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Willinm R. Smithf 

U. 8. Botanic Garden, 






IN REFERENCE TO THE 



UNION OF CHRISTIANS, 



AND A RESTORATION OF 



f rimitte ©lui^tiMitg, 



AS PLEAD IN THE 



CURRENT REFORMATIOIS'. 



By a. CAMPBELL. 



CINCINNATI : 

BOSWOETH, CHASE & HALL, Publishers, 

No. 172 West Fourth Street, 

1871. 



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[rOPYRIGHT SECUREi) ACCORDING TO ACT OF CON'GRESS.] 



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PREFACE. 



Since the fall development of the great apostasy foretold by 
Prophets and Apostles, numerous attempts at reformation have 
been made. Three full centuries, carrying with them the destinies 
of countless millions, have passed into eternity since the Lutheran 
efibrt to dethrone the Man of Sin. During this period many great 
and wonderful changes have taken place in the political, literary, 
moral, and religious conditions of society. That the nations com- 
posing the western half of the Roman empire have already been 
greatly benefited by that efibrt, scientifically, politically, and 
morally, no person acquainted with either political or ecclesiastical 
history can reasonably doubt. Time, that great arbiter of human 
actions, that great revealer of secrets, has long decided that all 
the reformers of the Papacy have been public benefactors. And 
thus the Protestant Reformation is proved to have been one of the 
most splendid eras in the history of the world, and must long be 
regarded by the philosopher and the philanthropist as one of the 
most gracious interpositions in behalf of the whole human race. 

We Americans owe our national privileges and our civil liber- 
ties to the Protestant Reformers. They achieved not only an 
imperishable fame for themselves, but a rich legacy for their pos- 
terity. When we contrast the present state of these United States 
with Spanish America, and the condition of the English nation 
with that of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, we begin to appreciate 
how much we are indebted to the intelligence, faith, and courage 
of Martin Luther and his heroic associates in that glorious re- 
formation. 

He restored the Bible to the world a.d. 1534, and boldly de- 
fended its claims against the impious and arrogant pretensions of 
the haughty and tyrannical See of Rome. But, unfortunately, at 
his death there Avas no Joshua to lead the people, who rallied 
under the banners of the Bible, out of the wilderness in which 
Luther died. His tenets were soon converted into a new state 
religion, and the spirit of reformation which he excited and in 
spired was soon quenched by the broils and feuds of the Protest- 
ant princes, and the collisions of rival political interests, both on 
the continent and in the islands of Europe. 

While Protestant hatred to the Roman Pontiff" and the Papacy 
continued to increase, a secret lust in the bosoms of Protestants 
for ecclesiastical power and patronage worked in the members of 
the Protestant Popes, who gradually assimilated the new church 
to the old. Creeds and manuals, synods and councils, soon 
shackled the minds of men, and the spirit of reformation gradually 
forsook the Protestant church, or was supplanted by the spirit of 
the world. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

Ciilvin renewed the speculative theology of Saint Augustine, 
and Geneva in a few years became the Alexandria of modern 
Europe. The power of religion was soon merged in debates 
about forms and ceremonies, in speculative strifes of opinion, and 
in fierce debates about the political and religious right of burning 
heretics. Still, however, in all these collisions much light was 
elicited ; and had it not been for these extremes, it is problema- 
tical whether the wound inflicted upon the Man of Sin would 
have been as incurable as it has since proved itself to be. 

Reformation, however, became the order of the day; and this, 
assuredly, was a great matter, hoAvever it may have been managed. 
It was a revolution, and revolutions seldom move backward. The 
example that Luther set was of more value than all the achieve- 
ments of Charles Y., or the literary and moral labors of his 
distinguished contemporary, the erudite Erasmus. 

It is curious to observe how extremes begot extremes in every 
step of the reformation cause, to the dawn of the present century. 
The penances, works of faith and of supererogation, of the Roman 
church, drove Luther and Calvin to the ultraism of " faith alone.^' 

After the Protestants had debated their own principles with 
one another till they lost all brotherly affection, and would as 
soon have " communed in the sacrament'^ with the Catholics as 
with one another; speculative abstracts of Christian Platonism, 
the sublime m^'steries of Egyptian theology, became alternately 
the bond of union and the apple of discord, among the fathers 
and friends of the Reformation. 

The Jive great dogmas of the Geneva reformer were carried to 
Amsterdam, and generated in the mind of James Arminius, in 
1591, five opposite opinions ; and these at the Synod of Dort, in 
1618, formed a new party of Remonstrants. 

Into Britain, with whose history we are more immediately con- 
cerned, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Arminianism, were soon 
imported; and, like all raw materials there introduced, were im- 
mediately manufactured anew. They were all exotics, but easily 
acclimated, and soon flourished in Britain more luxuriantly than 
in their native soil. But the beggarly elements of opinions, forms, 
and ceremonies to which they gave rise, caused the '' Spint alone'* 
to germinate in the mind of George Fox, in little more than half a 
century after the introduction of the Leyden theology. 

In Lord Chatham's days, the Episcopal church, as his Lord- 
ship declares, was a singular compound — '*A Popish liturgy, 
Calvinistic articles, and an Arminian clergy.^' But every few 
years caused a new dissension and reformation, until the kirk of 
Scotland and the church of England have been compelled to re* 
spect, in some good degree, the rights of conscience, even in dis- 
senters themselves. 

Abroad it was no better. The Saxon reformer had his friends ; 
John of Picardy lived in the grateful remembrance of the Geneva 
family; and James of Amsterdam speculated in a very liberal 
style among all the Remonstrants at home and abroad. In 



PREFACE. C* 

Sweden, Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, the debate varied 
not essentially : the Pope against the Protestants — the Lutherans 
against the Calvinists — the Calvinists against the Arminians — 
the Bishops against the Presbyters — and the Presbyterians among 
themselves ; until, by the potency of metaphysics and politics, 
tliey are now frittered down to various parties. 

While philosophy, mysticism, and politics drove the parties to 
every question into antipodal extremes; while justification by 
metapliysical faith alone ; while the forms and ceremonies of all 
sects begat the " Spirit alone^^ in the mind of George Fox ; while 
the Calvinian five points generated the Arminian five points ; and 
while the Westminster Creed, though unsubscribed by its makers, 
begot a hundred others, — not until within the present generation 
did any sect or party in Christendom unite and build upon the 
Bible alone. 

Since that time, the first efibrt known to us to abandon the whole 
controversy about creeds and reformations, and to restore primi- 
tive Christianity, or to build alone upon the Apostles and Pro- 
phets, Jesus Christ himself the chief corner, has been made. 

Tired of new creeds and new parties in religion, and of the 
numerous abortive efibrts to reform the reformation ; convinced 
from the Holy Scriptures, from observation and experience, that 
the union^of the disciples of Christ is essential to the conversion 
of the world, and that the correction and improvement of no creed, 
or partisan establishment in Christendom, could ever become the 
basis of such a union, communion,- and co-operation, as would 
restore peace to a church militant against itself, or triumph to 
the common salvation ; a few individuals, about the commence- 
ment of the present century, began to reflect upon the ways and 
means to restore primitive Christianity. 

This led to a careful, most conscientious, and prayerful exami- 
nation of the grounds and reasons of the present state of things in 
all the Protestant sects. On examination of the history of all the 
platforms and constitutions of all these sects, it appeared evident 
as mathematical demonstration itself, that neither the Augsburg 
articles of faith and opinion, nor the Westminster, nor the Wes- 
leyan, nor those of any state creed or dissenting establishment^ 
could ever improve the condition of things, restore union to the 
church, peace to the world, or success to the gospel of Christ. 

As the Bible was said and constantly affirmed to be the religion 
of Protestants, it was for some time a mysterious problem why 
the Bible alone, confessed and acknowledged, should work no 
happier results than the strifes, divisions, and retaliatory excom- 
munications of rival Protestant sects. It appeared, however, in 
this case, after a more intimate acquaintance with the details of 
the inner temple of sectarian Christianity, as in many similar 
cases, that it is not the acknowledgment of a good rule, but the 
walking by it, that secures the happiness of society. The Bible 
in the lips, and the creed in the head and in the heart, will not 
save the church from strife, emulation and schism. There is no 



^ PREFACE. 

moral, ecclesiastical, or political good, by simply acknowledging 
It in word. It must be obeyed. ^ • 

In our ecclesiastical pilgrimage we have occasionally met with 
some vehement declaimers against human written creeds, and 
pleaders for the Bible alone, who were all the while preaching up 
the opinions of saint Arius or saint Athanasius. Their senti- 
ments, language, style, and general views of the gospel were as 
human as auricular confession, extreme unction, or purgatorial 
purification. 

The Bible alone is the Bible only, in word and deed, in profes- 
sion and practice ; and this alone can reform the world and save 
the church. Judging others as we once judged ourselves, there 
are not a few who are advocating the Bible alone, and preaching 
their own opinions. Before we applied the Bible alone to our 
views, or brought our views and religious practices to the Bible, 
we plead the old theme, — " The Bible alone is the religion of 
Protestants.^' But we found it an arduous task, and one of twenty 
years' labour, to correct our diction and purify our speech accord- 
ing to the Bible alone; and even yet we have not wholly practi- 
cally repudiated the language of Ashdod. We only profess to 
work and walk by the rules which will inevitably issue in a pure 
speech, and in right conceptions of that pure, and holy, and celestial 
thing called Christianity, — in faith, in sentiment, and in practice. 

A deep and an abiding impression that the power, the consola- 
tions, and joys — the holiness and happiness — of Christ's religion 
were lost in the forms and ceremonies, in the speculations and 
conjectures, in the feuds and bickerings of sects and schisms, 
originated a project many years ago for uniting the sects, or rather 
the Christians in all the sects, upon a clear and scriptural bond of 
union, — upon having a ^^ihus saith tlie Lord,^' either in express 
terms, or in approved precedent, *' for every article of faith, and 
item of religious practice.'' This was offered in the year 1809, 
in the " Declaration and Address" of the Washington Association, 
Pennsylvania. It was first tendered to the parties that confessed 
the Westminster creed: but equally submitted to the Protestants 
of every name, making faith in Christ and obedience to him the 
only test of Christian character, and the only bond of church union, 
communion, and co-operation. It was indeed approved by all ; 
but adopted and practised by none, except the few, or part of the 
few, who made the future. 

None of us who either got up or sustained that project was 
then aware of what havoc that said principle, if faithfully applied, 
would have made of our views and practices on various favorite 
points. When we take a close retrospective view of the last 
thirty years, (for we have a pretty distinct recollection of our 
travel's history for that period,) and of the workings of that prin- 
ciple in heart and life, wath which we commenced our public 
career in the work of the Lord, we know not how to express our 
astonishment better than in the following parable : — 

A citizen of the West had a very promising young vineyard od 



PREFACE. 7 

a fruitful hill. He had no practical knowledge in the cultivation 
of the grape, but had read much and largely upon the dressing, 
pruning, and managing of the vine. He built himself a wine-vat, 
and prepared all the implements for the vintage. But he lacked 
practical skill in using the pruning-knife. His vines flourished 
exceedingly, and stretched forth their tendrils on every side ; but 
he had no vintage. 

A vine-dresser from Oporto one day presented himself as he 
was musing upon his disappointments. He. was celebrated in his 
profession, and the most skilful in all the affairs of the vineyard. 
The owner of the vineyard, having employed him to dress and 
keep his vineyard, set out on a long journey for a few weeks. 
On his return and visit to his farm, he walked out one day to his 
vineyard, when, to his amazement, he saw the ground literally 
covered with prunings of his vines. The vine-dresser had very 
skilfully and freely used the pruning-hook, and had left little 
more than the roots and naked stems of the vines standing by 
the frames. 

"My vineyard is ruined! My hopes are blighted! I am un- 
done! I am ruined!^' exclaimed the unhappy husbandman. 
"Unhappy wretch! you have deceived me; you have robbed me 
of the labors of five years, and blasted in one single moon all my 
bright hopes for years to come V The vine-dresser stood ap- 
palled ; but, as soon as the tempest subsided, ventured to 
say, "Master, I will serve you five years for nothing, if we 
gather not more grapes and have not a better vintage this year 
than you have gathered in all the years since you planted these 
vines. ^^ The proprietor of the vineyard withdrew, saying, " It 
is impossible ! It is impossible V and visited it not again till in- 
vited by his vine-dresser, about the middle of autumn ; when, to 
his still greater astonishment, and much more to his gratification, 
he found incomparably more grapes than he had hitherto gathered 
from his vines, and of a much more delicious quality. 

So, in the case before us, the application of the principle al- 
ready stated trimmed us so naked that we strongly inclined to 
suspect its fallacy, and had wellnigh abandoned it as a deceitful 
speculation. Time, however, that great teacher, and Experience, 
that great critic, have fully assured us that the principle is a 
salutary one ; and that, although we seemingly lose much by its 
application, our loss consists only of barren opinions, fruitless 
speculations, and useless traditions, that only cumber the ground 
and check the word, so that it is in a good measure unfruitful. 

AYe flatter ourselves that the principles are now clearly and 
fully developed by the united efforts of a few devoted and ardent 
minds, who set out determined to sacrifice every thing to truth, 
and follow her wherever she might lead the way : I say, the prin- 
ciples on which the church of Jesus Christ — all believers in 
Jesus as the Messiah — can be united with honor to themselves, 
and with blessings to the world ; on which the gospel and its 
ordinances can be restored in all their primitive simplicity, ex- 



8 PREFACE, 

cellency, and power, and the church shine as a lamp that burnetb 
to the conviction and salvation of the world: — I say, the prin- 
ciples by which these things can be done are now developed, as 
well as the jjy^inciples themselves, which together constitute the 
original gospel and order of things established by the Apostles. 

The object of this volume is to place before the community in a 
plain, definite, and perspicuous style, the capital principles which 
have been elicited, argued out, developed, and sustained in a con- 
troversy of ticentij-five years, hy the tongues and pens of those 
who rallied under the banners of the Bible alone. The principle 
which was inscribed upon our banners when we withdrew from 
the ranks of the sects was, '"'Faith in Jesus as the true Messiah^ 
and obedience to him as our Laivgiver and King, the only test of 
Christian character, and the only bond of Christian union, com- 
munion, and co-opei^ation, irrespective of all creeds, opinions^ com- 
mandments, and traditions of men.^' 

This cause, like every other, was first plead by the tongue ; 
afterwards by the pen and the press. The history of its progress 
corresponds with the history of every other religious revolution 
-in this respect — that different points, at different times, almost 
exclusively engrossed the attention of its pleaders. We began 
with the outposts and vanguard of the opposition. Soon as we 
found ourselves in possession of one post our artillery was turned 
against another; and as fast as the smoke of the enemy receded 
we advanced upon his lines. 

The first piece that was written on the subject of the great 
position appeared from the pen of Thomas Campbell, Senior, in 
the year 1809. An association was formed that year for the dis- 
semination of the principles of reformation ; and the piece alluded 
to was styled *' The Declaration and Address of the Christian, 
Association of Washington, Pennsylvania.^' 

The constitutional principle of this " Christian Association'' 
and its object are clearly expressed in the following resolution: 
— " That this society, formed for the sole purpose of promoting 
simple evangelical Christianity, shall, to the utmost of its power, 
countenance and support such ministers, and such only, as ex- 
hibit a manifest conformity to the Original Standard, in con^r- 
sation and doctrine, in zeal and diligence; only such as reduce 
to practice the simple original form of Christianity, expressly ex- 
hibited upon the sacred page, without attempting to inculcate any 
thing of human authority, of private opinion, or inventions of 
men, as having any place in the constitution, faith, or worship of 
the Christian church ; or any thing as matter of Christian faith 
or duty for which there cannot be produced a 'thus saith the 
Lord^' either in express terms or by approved precedent." 

The ground occupied in this resolution afforded ample docu- 
ments of debate. Every inch of it was debated, argued, canvassed 
for several years, in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. On this 
Dottom we put to sea, with scarcely hands enough to man the 
ship. We had head-winds and rough seas for the first sevea 



PREFACE. 9 

years, a history of which would be both curious and interest- 
ing. 

But, to contradistinguish this plea and effort from some others 
almost contemporaneous with it, we would emphatically remark, 
that, while the remonstrants warred against human creeds, evi- 
dently because those creeds warred against their own private 
opinions and favorite dogmas, which they washed to substitute 
for those creeds, — this enterprise, so far as it was hostile to those 
creeds, warred against them, not because of their hostility to any 
private or favorite opinions which were desired to be substituted 
for them, but because those human institutions supplanted the 
Bible, made the word of God of non-effect, were fatal to the in- 
telligence, union, purity, holiness, and happiness of the disciples 
of Christ, and hostile to the salvation of the world. 

Unitarians, for example, have warred against human creeds, be- 
cause those creeds taught Trinitarianism. Arminians, too, have 
been hostile to creeds, because those creeds supported Calvinism. 
It has, indeed, been alleged that all schismatics, good and bad, 
since the days of John Wickliffe, and long before, have opposed 
creeds of human invention because those creeds opposed them* 
But so ftir as this controversy resembles them in its opposition to 
creeds, it is to be distinguished from them in this all-essential at- 
tribute, — viz.: that our opposition to creeds arose from a conviction 
that, ichether the opinion in them were true or false, they were hostile 
to the union, peace, harmony, purity, and joy of Christians, and 
adverse to the conversion of the world to Jesus Christ. 

Next to our personal salvation, two objects constituted the 
summum honum, the supreme good, worthy of the sacrifice of all 
temporalities. The first was the union, peace, purity, and har- 
monious co-operation of Christians, guided by an understanding 
enlightened by the Hol}^ Scriptures; the other the conversion of 
sinners to God. Our predilections and antipathies on all religious 
questions arose from, and were controlled by, those all-absorbing 
interests. From these commenced our campaign against creeds. 
We had not at first, and we have not now, a favorite opinion or 
speculation which we would offer as a substitute for any human 
creed or constitution in Christendom. 

We were not, indeed, at first apprized of the havoc which our 
principles would make upon our opinions. We soon, however, 
found our principles and opinions at war on some points; and the 
question immediately arose. Whether shall we sacrifce our princi- 
ples to our opinions, or our opinions to our principles? AVe need 
not say that we were compelled to the latter, judging that our 
principles were better than our opinions. Hence, since we put to 
sea on board this bottom, we have been compelled to throw over- 
board some opinions once as dear to us as they now are to those 
who never thought of the difference between principle and opinion. 

Some of those opinions (as the most delicate and tender buds 
are soonest blighted by the frost) immediately withered, and died 
under the first application of our principles. Infant baptism and 



10 PREFACE. 

infant sprinkling, with all infantile imbecilit}', immediately expired 
in our minds, soon as the Bible alone was made the only measure 
and standard of faith and duty. This foundation of the Pedo- 
baptist temple being instantly destroyed, the whole edifice lean- 
ing upon it became a heap of ruins. We explored the ruins with 
great assiduity, and collected from them all the materials that 
could be worked into the Christian temple; but the piles of rub- 
bish that remained were immense. 

Other topics became the theme of discussion; and, as the public 
mind became more intelligent and candid, the great principles of 
the Law and Gospel, the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and Christian 
institutions, were gradually unfolded. To the development of 
these, other publications in 1816 and 1820 greatly contributed; 
and so fully explored were ancient and modern Christianity that, 
in 1823, the design was formed of commencing a periodical and 
establishing a press to contend for the original faith and order, in 
opposition to ail the corruptions of fifteen centuries. 

As we are not writing a history of this struggle from its com- 
mencem^ent to the present time, but simply informing the reader 
that the principles stated in the following pages have been ma- 
turely considered, and have passed through a long, complicated, 
and vigorous opposition, w^e shall hasten to the object of this 
book, which is to lay before the reader a miniature view of the 
principles already noticed. 

To say nothing of the periodicals which have already been 
commenced, and which have been for some time our fellow- 
laborers in this all-important work, besides our debates of 1820, 
1823, and 1829, four editions of the new versiori of the New 
Testament, with prefaces, various tables, notes, criticisms, &c., 
there have issued from our press twelve volumes in illustration 
and defence of these principles, in hearing and answering objec- 
tions from all sects, and from many of the most learned and 
talented of our country. 

The Christian Baptist, in seven annual volumes, being the 
first of these publications, and afi'ording such a gradual develop- 
ment of all these principles as the state of the public mind and 
the opposition would permit, is, in the judgment of many of our 
brethren who have expressed themselves on the subject, better 
adapt-ed to the whole community as it now exists, than our other 
writings. In this judgment I must concur; and to it especially, 
as well as to all other publications since commenced, I would 
refer the reader who may be solicitous to examine these princi- 
ples more- fully, and to consider the ordeal through which they 
have passed. 

Having paid a very candid and considerate regard to all that 
has been ofi'ered against these principles, as well as having been 
admonished from the extremes into which some of our friends 
and brethren have carried some points, I undertake this work 
with a deep sense of its necessity, and with much anticipation of 
its utility, in exhibiting a concentrated view of the whole ground 



PREFACE. 11 

Vre occupy, of rectifying some extremes, of furnishing new means 
of defence to those engaged in contending with this generation for 
primitive Christianity. 

Having also attentively considered the most vulnerable side of 
every great question, and re-examined the terms and phrases 
which have occasioned most opposition and controversy, whether 
from our own pen or that of any of our brethren, our aim is now 
to offer to the public a more matured view of such cardinal prin- 
ciples as are necessary to the right interpretation of the Holy 
Scriptures, both in acquiring and communicating a correct know- 
lodge of the Christian Institution, of such principles as are re- 
quisite to the discovery of truth and the exposure of error, as 
well as in a revised and corrected republication of the principal 
Extras of the Millennial Harbinger, to lay before the reader the 
elements of the gospel itself, and of the worship most acceptable 
to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The work, then, naturally divides itself into three parts: — The 
first. The principles by which the Christian Institution may 

BE CERTAINLY AND SATISFACTORILY ASCERTAINED *. the SCCOnd, ThE 
PRINCIPLES ON WHICH ALL CHRISTIANS MAY FORM ONE C0M3IUNI0N: 

and the third. The elements or principles which constitute 
ORIGINAL Christianity. Whether this arrangement be most in 
the order of nature, or of importance, is not the question : it is 
the order in Avhich we have from necessity been compelled to con- 
Bider these subjects. 

A. CAMPBELL. 
Bethany, Va., January 2, 1S35. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The present edition substitutes, for the first part of the last, a 
series of essays on the Christian System, and somewhat enlarges 
on the seeond. The continual misrepresentation and misconcep- 
tion of our views on some very fundamental points of the Chris- 
tian system seem at the present crisis to call for a very definite, 
clear, and connected view of the great outlines and elements of 
the Christian Institution, and more especially w^ith a reference to 
a great question, which we anticipate soon to be the all-absorbing 
question of Protestant Christendom, — viz. : How may schisms cease 
and all Christians unite, harmonize, and co-operate in one great com- 
munity, as at the beginning? 

Things ecclesiastic are moving forward to a new issue. The 
Christian system is undergoing an examination in the present day, 
both as to its evidences and signification, wholly unprecedented 
since the days of the grand defection. Such an age is always an 
age of extremes; but things wdil regulate themselves and settle 
down on the true foundation. ''Many are running to and fro;'' 
and certainly knowledge is on the increase. 

The Christian System, as unfolded in the following essays, 
would, but for the special essays on the " Kingdom of Heaven," 
**Eemission of Sins,'' "Regeneration," and *' Breaking the Loaf," 
have been more systematically and fully developed. Sundry 
points are meagerly discussed in the new essa^^s, because of their 
recurrence in those elaborate articles which have been so often 
published. We have, indeed, aimed first at giving a general 
view, leaving the important details on the most disputable points 
for those essays. 

Instead of the "Dialogue on the Holy Spirit," so generally read 
and so fully discussed, we have added a few essays on Church 
Order as a part of the Christian System ; thus endeavoring to 
give to the book all the chances of being as useful as possible to 
those who are desirous of a more perfect understanding of our at- 
tainments in Christian knowledge. We speak for ourselves only ; 
and, while we are always willing to give a declaration of our faith 
and knowledge of the Christian system, we firmly protest against 
dogmatically propounding our own views, or those of any fallible 
mortal, as a condition or foundation of church union and co-opera- 
tion. While, then, w^e would, if we could, either with the tongue 
or the pen, proclaim all that we believe, and all that we know, to 
the ends of the earth, ive take the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing 
hut the Bible, as the foundation of all Christian union and commu- 
nion. Those who do not like this will please show us a more 
excellent way. 

A. CAMPBELL. 

Bethany, Va., June 13, 1839. 
12 



THE CHEISTIAN SYSTEM. 



CHAPTEE I. 

THE UNIVERSE. 



I. One God, one system of nature, one universe. That uni- 
verse is composed of innumerable systems, which, in perfect con- 
cert, move forward in subordination to one supreme end. That 
one end of all things is the sovereign and infinite pleasure of 
Him who inhabits eternity and animates the universe with his 
presence. So worship and adore the heavenly hierarchies, say- 
ing, " Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and 
power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they 
are and were created.^' 

II. The universe is a system of systems, not only as respects 
the seventy-five millions of suns and their attendant planets, 
which fill up the already-discovered fields of ethereal space, but 
in reference to the various systems, separate, though united; dis- 
tinct, though amalgamated; heterogeneous, though homogeneous; 
which are but component parts of every solar system, of every 
planet in that system, and of every organic and every inorganic 
mass on each planet. Thus, in the person of a single individual 
man, we have an animal system, an intellectual system, a moral 
system, running into each other, and connecting themselves with 
every thing of a kindred nature in the whole universe of God, 
just as we have in the human body itself a system of solids, and 
a system of fluids ; and these again forming themselves into a 
system of bones, a system of nerves, a system of arteries, a sys- 
tem of veins, &c. 

III. Now, as no one system is insular and independent, no 
system can be understood abstractly. Every particular system 
must be viewed in reference to that system which is proximate to 
it in nature and use. Thus we view the bones in the human 
body as connected with the muscles ; the muscles as connected 

13 



14 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

with the nerves ; the nerves as connected with the arteries ; the 
arteries as connected with the veins ; and these all as connected 
with all the human frame, and with the fluids evolved by them, 
or circulated through them, &c. 

ly. As, then, the systems of the universe, and the sciences 
which treat of them, run into each other and mutually lend and 
borrow light, illustration, and development, it is a mark of imbe- 
cility of mind rather than of strength — of folly rather than of 
wisdom— for any one to dogmatize with an air of infallibility, or 
to assume the attitude of perfect intelligence on any one sub- 
ject of human thought, without an intimate knowledge of the 
whole universe. But, as such knowledge is not within the grasp 
of feeble mortal man, whose horizon is a point of creation, and 
whose days are but a moment of time, it is superlatively incon- 
gruous for any son of science, or of religion, to affirm that this or 
that issue is absolutely irrational, unjust, or unfitting the schemes 
of eternal Providence or the purposes of the supreme wisdom and 
benevolence, only as he is guided by the oracles of infallible wis- 
dom or the inspirations of the Almighty. Who could pronounce 
upon the wisdom and utility of a single joint, without a know- 
ledge of the limb to which it belongs ; of that limb, without an 
understanding of the body to which it ministers ; of that body, 
without a clear perception of the world in which it moves, and 
of the relations which it sustains; of that world, without some 
acquaintance with the solar system of which it is but a small 
part ; of that particular solar system, witliout a general and even 
intimate knowledge of all the kindred systems; of all these kindred 
systems, without a thorough comprehension of the ultimate design 
of the whole creation ; of that ultimate design, without a perfect 
intelligence of that incomprehensible Being by whom and for 
whom all things were created and made? How gracefully, then, 
sits unassuming modesty on all the reasonings of man! The 
true philosopher and the true Christian, therefore, delight al- 
ways to appear in the unaffected costume of humility, candor, 
and docility. — 

" He who through vast immensity can pierce, 
See worlds on worlds compose one universe ; 
Observe how system into system runs. 
What other planets circle other suns; 
What varied beings people every star. 
May tell why G od has made us as we are." — PoPB. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 15 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE BIBLE. 

I. One God, one moral system, one Bible. If nature be a sys- 
tem, religion is no less so. God is "a God of order,'^ and that is 
the same as to say he is a God of system. Nature and religion, 
the offspring of the same supreme intelligence, bear the image of 
one father — twin-sisters of the same divine parentage. There is 
an intellectual and a moral universe as clearly bounded as the 
system of material nature. Man belongs to the v^hole three. He 
is an animal, intellectual, and moral being. Sense is his guide 
in n^iinvQ, faith in religion, reason in both. The Bible contem- 
plates man primarily in his spiritual and eternal relations. It is 
the history of nature so far only as is necessary to show man his 
origin and destiny, for it contemplates nature — the universe — 
only in relation to man's body, soul, and spirit. 

II. The Bible is to the intellectual and moral world of man 
what the sun is to the planets in our system, — the fountain and 
source of light and life, spiritual and eternal. There is not a 
spiritual idea in the whole human race that is not drawn from 
the Bible. As soon will the philosopher find an independent sun- 
beam in nature, as the theologian a spiritual conception in man^ 
independent of The One Best Book. 

HI. The Bible, or the Old and New Testament, in Hebrew and 
Greek, contains a full and perfect revelation of God and his will, 
adapted to man as he now is. It speaks of man as he was, and 
also as he will hereafter be : but it dwells on man as he is, tod as 
he ought to be, as its peculiar and appropriate theme. It is not, 
then, a treatise on man as he was, nor on man as he will be; but 
on man as he is, and as he ought to be ; not as he is physically, 
astronomically, geologically, politically, or metaphysically; but 
as he is and ought to be, morally and religiously, 

IV. The words of the Bible contain all the ideas in it. These 
words, then, rightly understood, and the ideas are clearly per- 
ceived. The words and sentences of the Bible are to be trans- 
lated, interpreted, and understood according to the same code of 
laws and principles of interpretation by which other ancient writ- 
ings are translated and understood; for, when God spoke to man in 
his own language, he spoke as one person converses with another — ■ 
in the fair, stipulated, and well-established meaning of the terms. 



16 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

This is essential to its character as a revelation from God ; other- 
wise it would be no revelation, but would always require a class 
of inspired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind. 

V. AVe have written frequently and largely upon the principles 
and rules of interpretation, as of essential importance and utility 
in this generation of remaining mysticizing and allegorizing, 
From our former writings we shall here only extract the naked 
rules of interpretation, deduced from extensive and well-digested 
premises ; fully sustained, too, by the leading translators and 
most distinguished critics and commentators of the last and pre- 
sent century. 

YI. Rule 1. On opening any book in the sacred Scriptures, 
consider Jirst the liistorical circumstances of the hook. These are the 
order, the title, the author, the date, the place, and the occasion of it. 

The order in historical compositions is of much importance ; as, 
for instance, whether the first, second, or third, of the five books 
of Moses, or of any other series of narrative, or of even epistolary 
communications. 

The title is also of importance, as it sometimes expresses the 
design of the book. As Exodus — the departure of Israel from 
Egypt; Acts of Apostles, &c. 

The peculiarities of the author, the age in which he lived, his 
style, mode of expression, illustrate his writings. The date, 
place, and occasion of it, are obviously necessary to a right ap- 
plication of any thing in the book. 

Rule 2. In examining the contents of any book, as respects 
precepts, promises, exhortations, &c., observe who it is that speaks, 
and under lohat dispensation he officiates. Is he a Patriarch, a 
Jew, or a Christian? Consider also the persons addressed, their 
prejudices, characters, and 7'eligious relations. Are they Jews or 
Christians, believers or unbelievers, approved or disapproved? 
This rule is essential to the proper application of every com- 
mand, promise, threatening, admonition, or exhortation, in Old 
Testament or New. 

Rule 3. To understand the meaning of what is commanded, 
promised, taught, &c., the same philological pidnciples, deduced^ 
from the nature of language, or the same laws of interpretation 
which are applied to the language of other hooks, are to he applied 
to the language of the Bible. 

Rule 4. Common usage, wliich can only he ascertained hy testi- 
mony, must always decide the meaning of any ivord which has hut 
one signification; but when words have, according to testimony, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 17 

{i.e. the Dictionary,) more meanings than one, whether literal or 
figurative, the scojje, the context, or parallel j^f^'^sages must decide 
the meaning: for if common usage, the design of the writer, the 
context, and parallel passages fail, there can be no certainty in 
the interpretation of language. 

Rule 5. In all tropical language ascertain the point of resem- 
hlanccy and judge of the nature of the trope, and its kind, from the 
point of resemblance. 

Rule 6 In the interpretation of symbols, types, allegories and 
parables, this rule is supreme: — Ascertain the point to he illus- 
trated ; for comparison is never to he extended heyond that point — 
to all the attrihutes, qualities, or circumstances of the symbol, typCy 
allegory, or parable. 

Rule 7. For the salutary and sanctifying intelligence of the 
Oracles of God, the following rule is indispensable: — 

We must come icithin the understanding distance. 

There is a distance which is properly called the speaking dis- 
tance, or the hearing distance; beyond which the voice reaches 
not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we must come with- 
in that circle which the voice audibly fills. 

Now we may with propriety say, that as it respects God, there 
is an understanding distance. All beyond that distance cannot 
understand God ; all within it can easil}^ understand him in all 
matters of piety and morality. God himself is the centre of that 
circle, and humility is its circumference. 

The wisdom of God is as evident in adapting the light of the 
Sun of Righteousness to our spiritual or moral vision, as in ad- 
justing the light of day to our eyes. The light reaches us with- 
out an effort of our own, but we must open our eyes, and if our 
eyes be sound, we enjoy the natural light of heaven. There is a 
sound eye in reference to spiritual light, as well as in reference 
to material light. Now, while the philological principles and 
rules of interpretation enable many men to be skilful in biblical 
criticism, and in the interpretation of words and sentences, who 
neither perceive nor admire the things represented by those 
words ; the sound eye contemplates the things themselves, and is 
ravished with the moral scenes which the Bible unfolds. 

The moral soundness of vision consists in having the eyes of the 
understanding fixed solely on God himself, his approbation and 
complacent affection for us. It is sometimes called a single eye, 
because it looks for one thing supremely. Every one, then, who 

2-* 



18 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

•>pens the Book of God, with one aim, with one ardent desire- 
intent only to know the will of God, — to such a person the know- 
ledge of God is easy; for the Bible is framed to illuminate such, 
and only such, with the salutary knowledge of things celestial 
and divine. 

Humility of mind, or what is in effect the same, contempt for 
all earlh-born pre-eminence, prepares the mind for the reception 
of this light ; or, what is virtually the same, opens the ears to 
hear the voice of God. Amidst the din of all the arguments fiom 
the flesh, the world, and Satan, a person is so deaf that he cannot 
hear the still small voice of God's philanthropy. But, receding 
from pride, covetousness, and false ambition ; from the love of the 
world ; and in coming within that circle, the circumference of 
which is unfeigned humility, and the centre of which is God him- 
self — the voice of God is distinctly heard and clearly understood. 
All within this circle are taught by God ; all without it are under 
the influence of the wicked one. "God resisteth the proud, but 
he giveth grace to the humble. '^ 

He, then, that would interpret the Oracles of God to the salva- 
tion of his soul, must approach this volume with the humility and 
docility of a child, and meditate upon it day and night. Like 
Mary, he must sit at the Master's feet, and listen to the words 
which fall from his lips. To such a one there is an assurance of 
understanding, a certainty of knowledge, to which the man of 
letters alone never attained, and which the mere critic never felt. 

VII. The Bible is a book of facts, not of opinions, theories, 
abstract generalities, nor of verbal definitions. It is a book of 
awful facts, grand and sublime beyond description. These facts 
reveal God and man, and contain within them the reasons of all 
piety and righteousness, or what is commonly called religion and 
morality. The meaning of the Bible facts is the true biblical 
doctrine. History is therefore the plan pursued in both Testa- 
ments ; for testimony has primarily to do with faith, and reason- 
ing with the understanding. History has, we say, to do with 
facts — and religion springs from them. Hence, the history of 
the past, and the anticipations of the future, or what are usually 
called history and prophecy, make up exactly four-fifths of all the 
volumes of inspiration. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 19 

CHAPTER III. 

GOD. 

I. "I AM THAT I AM.^' "I lift up my hand to heaven and 
eay, Hive for ever J ^ *' The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator 
of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary: there 
is no searching of his understanding J' ** His understanding is 
infinite.'' "Do not 1 Jill heaven and earth, saith the Lord/' 
*' For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, 
whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place ; with 
him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the 
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." 
'*I beseech thee show me thy glory ; aw-d he said, I will make all 
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the 
Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, 
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." "And the 
Lord passed by before him,^ and proclaimed. The Lord, the Lord 
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness 
and in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and 
transgression, and sin, and that by no means acquits the guilty ; 
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon 
the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth genera- 
tion" — " and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love 
me and keep my commandments." " Lord God of Israel, who 
dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou 
alone; thou hast made heaven and earth. Hear, Israel, Jehovah 
our Aleim is one Jehovahf — the Lord our God is one Lord." 
*' Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which wast, and art, and 
art to come." "Great and marvellous are thy works. Lord God 
Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints." 
*'Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou 
alone art holy ?" " He is the Rock : his work is perfect, for all^ 
his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity: 
just and right is he." "Glorious in holiness, fearful in praise, 
doing wonders." 

II. Such are a few — a specimen of the Divine declarations con- 
cerning himself, repeated and re-echoed by the purest and most 
intellectual beings in heaven and earth. It is from his word ami 

* Moses. t So reads the Hebrew, Deut. v. 4. 



20 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

his works we learn the being and perfections of God. As we form 
a character of man from what he says and what he does, so learn 
we the Divine character. "The heavens declare his glory, and the 
firmament showeth forth his handiwork : day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.'^ Creation 
reveals the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God — 
Providence proclaims also his justice, truth, and holiness. Ke- 
demption develops his mercy, condescension, and love ; and all 
these are again characterized by infinity, eternity, immutability. 
Nature, then, attests and displays the knowledge, wisdom, power, 
and goodness of God. The law and the providence of God espe- 
cially declare his justice, truth, and holiness ; while the gospel 
unfolds his mercy, condescension, and love: and all these proclaim 
that God is infinite, eternal, and immutable. God appears before 
the universe of intellectuals in the threefold attitude of Creator, 
Lawgiver, and Redeem.er ; and, although each of these involves 
and reveals many of his excellencies, still in each department 
three are most conspicuous. As Creator, wisdom, power, and ^ 
goodness; as Lawgiver, justice, truth, and holiness; as Redeemer,' 
mercy, condescension, and love. In each and all of which depart- 
ments he is infinite, immutable, and eternal. 

III. But the Scriptures speak of his divinity, or godhead, as 
well as of the unity, spirituality, and eternity of his being. We 
have not, indeed, much said upon this incomprehensible theme; 
for who by searching can find out God, or know the Almighty to 
perfection ? " The knowledge of him is high as heaven : what 
canst thou do ? Deeper than hell : what canst thou know ? The 
measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.'' 

IV. Paul and Peter indeed speak of the divine nature in the 
abstract, or of the divinity or godhead. These are the most 
abstract terms found in the Bible. Eternity and divinity are, 
however, equally abstract and almost equally rare in Holy Writ. 
Still they are necessarily found in the divine volume ; because we 
must abstract nature from person before we can understand the 
remedial system. For the divine nature may be communicated 
or imparted in some sense ; and, indeed, while it is essentially 
and necessarily singular, it is certainly plural in its personal 
manifestations. Hence we have the Father, Son, and Holy /f 
Spirit equally divine, though personally distinct from each other. 
We have, in fact, but one God, one Lord, one Holy Spirit ; yet 
these are equally possessed of one and the same divine nature. 

Y. Some conceive of God as a mathematical unit ; and as a 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 21 

thing cannot be both mathematical!}^ singular and plural — one and 
three, at the same time and in the same sense, they deny the true 
and proper divinity of the Son of God and of the Spirit of God. But 
it would seem to us that they reason not in harmony with the 
sacred style of inspiration. But why should we imagine that 
there cannot be a plurality of personal manifestations in the di- 
vine nature any more than m the angelic or human, especially as 
man was created in the image of God? 

VI. The relations in human plurality are indeed limited to 
three: for while all the human nature was at one time originally 
and wholl}^ in the person of Adam, it was afterwards found equally 
in the person of Eve ; and again in the person of their first-born. 
Now, as to its derivation and mode of existence, it was diverse in 
the three. In Adam it was underived as respected human nature, 
in Eve it was derived from Adam, and in Cain it was again de- 
rived from Adam and Eve. Here the matter ends ; for while Eve 
proceeded from Adam in one mode, and Cain pjroceeded from Adam 
and Eve in another, all the residue of human nature is participated 
without any ncAV relation or mode of impartation. While, then, 
our nature is plural as to its participation, it is limited to three 
relations or modes of existence. Now, as man was made in the 
image of God, we must conceive of him as having plurality, rela- 
tion, and society in himself — though far be it from us to suppose 
that the divine nature either is or can be fairly or fully exhibited 
by any resemblance or illustration drawn from angel or from man, 
or from any created thing. Still there is a resemblance between 
God and the sun that shines upon us — between God and an angel 
— between God and man ; and even in the mode of his existence, 
and in the varieties of relation and personal manifestation, there 
is so much resemblance as to peremptorily forbid all dogmatism 
as to what is, or is not, compatible with the unity, spirituality, 
and immutability of God. But of this more fully and intelligibly 
when we shall have examined the record concerning the Word 
and the Spirit of God. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SON OF GOD. 



I. "The holy progeny (or thing) which shall be born of thee 
shall be called the Son of GodJ^ " Unto us a child is born ; unto 
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, 
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty 



22 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." *' This is 
my Son, the Beloved ; hear him." ** No person has ascended 
into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son 
of Man, who is in heaven," or whose abode is in heaven. "God 
so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, the only 
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." "No man has 
seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom 
of the Father, has declared liim." " Rabbi, thou art the Son oi 
God, thou art the King of Israel." " Glorify thou me with thine 
ownself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world 
was." "In him dwells all the fulness of the godhead^ bodily," 
or substantially. " He is the first and the last." *' All things 
were created by him and for him." " In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
All things were made by him, and without him was not anything 
made that was made." " The Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of an only-be- 
gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 

II. So speak the Divine Oracles of the supreme Deity and 
excellency of the author and perfecter of the Christian system. 
"By him and for him" all things were created and made; and "he 
is before all things, and by him all things consist." But "he 
became flesh." Who? He that existed before the universe, 
whose mysterious, sublime, and glorious designation was the 
Word of God. Before the Christian system, before the relation 
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit began to be, his rank in the 
divine nature was that of the WoliD of God. Wonderful name ! 
Intimate and dear relation ! The relation between a word and the 
idea which it represents is the nearest of all relations in the uni- 
verse : for the idea is in the word, and the word is in the idea. 
The idea is invisible, inaudible, unintelligible, but in and by the 
word. An idea cannot be without an image or a word to represent 
it ; and therefore God was never without his word, nor was his 
word without him. " The Word was with God, and the Word 
was God ;" for a word is the idea expressed: and thus the "Word 

* The Apostle here uses the -word Tlieofees, Col. ii. 9, which is but once found in 
the New Testament. We have, indeed, Thewtees, Koiu. i. 20, from the same Apostle, 
also found but once, translated godhead. We have also Theios, Theion, three times; 
onoe Acts xvi. 29, translated divinity: and by Peter, 2 Ep. i. 3, 4, twice; once in con- 
nexion with power, and once with nature — "His divine power;" a "divine nature.'* 
"The fulness of the Deify," or godhead, indicates all divine excellency — all the per- 
fections of God. '• The fulness" of that divine nature is here contrasted with an empty 
and deceitful philosophy, (verse 8,) and the term bodily^ superadded, shows that 
God is in Christ, not, as he was in the tabernacle or temple, typically, but substantially, 
IS^^rally, and truly. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 23 

that was made flesh^^ became ''the brightness of his glory/' and 
the express image of his person^' — insomuch that *'he who has 
seen the Son has seen the Father also/' 

III. AVhile, then, the phrase " Son of God" denotes a temporal 
relation, the phrase "the Word of God" denotes an eternal, un- 
originated relation. There was a word of God from eternity, but 
the Son of God began to be in the days of Augustus Caesar. 
"Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." He was by 
his resurrection from the dead declared to be the Son of God with 
a power and evidence extraordinary and divine. The Word in- 
carnate or dwelling in human flesh, is the person called our Lord 
and Redeemer, Jesus Christ ; and while in the system of grace 
the Father is the one God, in all the supremacy of his glory, Jesus 
is the one Lord in all the divine fulness of sovereign, supreme, and 
universal authority. The Lord of Shem, of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, is the God and the Lord of Christians : for " the child" 
that has been born to us, and "the son" that has been given ac- 
cording to another Prophet, came from eternity : " His goings 
forth have been from of old from everlasting.""^ Such is the 
evangelical history of the author of the Christian system as to his 
antecedent nature and relation in the deity or godhead. 

IV. He became a true and proper " Son of Man." "A body 
hast thou prepared me." But the " me" was before " the body." 
It dwelt forever " in the bosom of the Father." " I came forth 
from God," said "the Incarnate Word." Great beyond expres- 
sion and " without controversy, great is the mystery — the secret 
of godliness." " God was manifest in the flesh." "He that has 
seen me has seen the Father also." The Son of Man was and 
is the Son of God — "Emanuel, God with us." Adored be his 
name ! The one God in the person of the Father has commanded 
all men to worship and honor the one Lord, as they would honor 
him that sent him : for now in glorifying the Son we glorify the 
Father that sent him and that dwells in him. " Know ye not that 
I am in the Father, and the Father in me ?" Thus spake our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 

I. As there is man and the spirit of man, so there is God and 
the Spirit of God. They are capable of a separate and distinct 

* Micah V. 2. 



24 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

existence. "What man knoweth the things of a man," 7ays 
Paul, " but the spirit of man that is in him? even so the things of 
God knoweth no man bat the Spirit of God." There is in this 
case an image of God in man — not, indeed, an exact image, but 
an image ; for as Paul says of the law, so say we of man — " For 
the law had a shadow [a resemblance] of good things to come, 
Hnd not the very [or exact] image of the things." So man was 
made an image of God, though not the exact image. The active 
power of man is in his spirit. So Juhn the Baptist came in the 
power of Elijah, because he came in his spirit. The Spirit of God 
is therefore often used for his power ; though it is not an imper- 
sonal power, but a living, energizing, active, personal existence 
Hence in all the works of God the Spirit of God is the active 
operating agent. Thus in the old creation, while ancient chaos 
yet remained — when "the earth was without form and void, and 
darkness brooded on the bosom of the vast abyss," the Spirit of 
God " moved [incubated and energized] upon the face of the 
waters." " The hand of the Lord has made me, and the Spirit 
of the Almighty has given me life." " The Holy Spirit shall 
come upon thee, and the poioer of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee.'' And thus was chaos subdued, man vitalized, " the heavens 
garnished," and the body of Jesus made by the Spirit of God. 

II. The Spirit is said to do, and to have done, all that God does 
and all that God has done. It has ascribed to it all divine perfec- 
tions and works; and in the New Testament it is designated as 
the immediate author and agent of the new creation, and of the 
holiness of Christians. It is therefore called the Holy Spirit. In 
the sublime and ineffable relation of the deity, or godhead, it 
stands next to the Incarnate Word. Anciently, or before time, it 
was God, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. But now, 
in the development of the Christian scheme, it is "the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit" — one God, one Lord, one Spirit. 
To us Christians there is, then, but one God, even the Father, and 
one Lord Jesus Christ, even the Saviour ; and one Spirit, even 
the Advocate, the Sanctifier, and the Comforter of Christ's body — 
the church. Jesus is the head, and the Spirit is the life and 
animating principle of that body. . 

III. The whole systems of creation, providence, and redemption 
are founded upon these relations in the Deity. Destroy these, 
blend and confound these, and nature, providence, and grace are 
blended, confounded, and destroyed. The peerless and supreme 
excellency of the Christian system is, that it fully opens to the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 25 

vision of mortals the divinity- the whole godhead employed in 
the work of man^s regeneration and ultimate glorification. God 
is manifest in human flesh, and is justified and glorified by the 
Spirit, in accomplishing man^s deliverance from ruin. Each name 
of the sacred three has its own peculiar work and glory in the 
three great works of Creation, Government, and Redemption. 
Hence we are, by divine authority, immersed into the name of 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in coming into the 
kingdom of grace ; and while in that kingdom the supreme bene- 
diction is, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love 
of Gob, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you V 
Indeed, in the old church that was in the wilderness, while matters 
were comparatively in the shadows of a moonlight age, the High- 
Priest of Israel was commanded to put the name of God upon the 
children of Israel, in the same relation of the sacred three — " The 
Lord* bless thee and keep thee — The Lord make his face shine 
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee — The Lord lift up his coun- 
tenance upon thee, and give thee peace.'^f * Jehovah bless thee,' 
is equal to *the love of God.* * Jehovah be gracious unto thee,' 
answers to ' the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' And * Jehovah 
lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace,' corre- 
sponds to * the communion of the Spirit.' 

IV. The divine doctrine of these holy and incomprehensible 
relations in the Divinity is so inwrought and incorporated with 
all the par<is of the sacred book — so identified with all the dis- 
pensations of religion — and so essential to the mediatorship of 
Christ, that it is impossible to make any real and divine profi- 
ciency in the true knowledge of God, of man, of reconciliation, of 
remission of sins, of eternal life ; or in the piety and divine life 
of Christ's religion, without a clear and distinct perception of it, 
as well as a firm and unshaken faith and confidence in it, as we 
trust still to make more evident in the sequel. 



CHAPTER VI. 

MAN AS HE WAS. 



I. The original man was the rational and moral ultimatum of 
the mundane system. Naturally, or as he came from God's hand, 
he was the perfection of all terrestrial creations and institutions. 

* In the Hebrew Bible it is Jehovah each time. f Numbei-s tI. 24- 28. 

3 



2(5 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

In the elements of his constitution he was partly celestial anA 
terrestrial — of an earthly material as to his body, but of a spi- 
ritual intelligence and a divine life. Made to know and to enjoy 
his Creator, and to have communion with all that is divine, 
spiritual, and material in the whole universe, he was susceptible 
of an almost boundless variety of enjoyments. 

II. And God said, " Let us make man in our image, after our 
likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and 
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God 
created man in his own image, in his own image created he him ; 
a male and a female created he them.^^ Gen. i. 26, 27. Man, 
then, was a companion of his Father and Creator, capable of 
admiring, adoring, and enjoying God. Having made the earth 
for him, God was fully glorified in all his sublunary works when 
they made man happy, grateful, and thankful to himself. Man, 
then, in his natural state was not merely an animal, but an intel- 
lectual, moral, pure and holy being. 

III. His position or state in this creation was that of a lord 
tenant. The earth is, indeed, the Lord^s ; but he gave it to man 
on a very easy and liberal lease, and so it became his property. 
He was, therefore, a free and responsible agent, capable of man- 
aging his estate and paying his rent ; and consequently was sus- 
ceptible of virtue and of vice, of happiness and misery. In order 
to freedom, virtue, and happiness, it was expedient and necessary 
to place him under a law ; for where there is no law there can be 
no liberty, virtue, or happiness. The law became a test of his 
character, a guarantee of his continued enjoyment of the life and 
property which God had leased to him on the condition of his 
obedience to that precept. 

ly. That the temptation to disobedience might be weak, and 
the motive to obedience strong, single, and pure, the precept 
given here was simple, positive, and clear. It could not be a 
moral precept, because other reasons than simple submission to 
the will of his Lord and King might have co-operated and pre- 
vented that display of pure loyalty by which his character was to 
be tried and his future fortunes governed. It was therefore a 
positive law. The requisition was so little as to present the least 
conceivable restraint upon liberty of thought and of action, and 
yet it was the most infallible test of his loyalty. The Adamic 
constitution was therefore admirably designed and adapted to 
happiness. It placed only one restriction in the way of universal 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 27 

liberty, and that at such a distance as to make the circle of his 
free and unrestrained movements within a single step of the last 
outpost of all intellectual, moral, and sensible enjoyment. The 
whole earth was his to use, one single fruit alone excepted. 
Truly, God was superlatively good and kind to man in his peculiar 
constitution and stat^. *' Thou madest him a little lower than 
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou 
madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou 
hast put all things under his feet : all sheep and oxen ; yea, and 
the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, 
and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. ! Lord, 
our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth V^ Psalm 
viii. 5-9. 

CHAPTEH VI. 

MAN AS HE IS. 

L **GoD made man upright, but they have sought out many 
inventions.^' Adam rebelled. The natural man became preter- 
natural. The animal triumphed over the human elements of his 
nature. Sin was born on earth. The crown fell from his head. 
The glory of the Lord departed from him. He felt his guilt, and 
trembled ; he saw his nakedness, and blushed. The bright candle 
of the Lord became a dimly-smoking taper. He was led to 
judgment. He was tried, condemned to death, divested of his 
patrimonial inheritance ; but respited from immediate execution. 
A prisoner of death, but permitted to roam abroad and at largo 
till the king authorized his seizure and destruction. 

II. The stream of humanity, thus contaminated at its fountain, 
cannot in this world ever rise of itself to its primitive purity and 
excellence. We all inherit a frail constitution physically, intel- 
lectually, but especially morally frail and imbecile. We have all 
inherited our father's constitution and fortune ; for Adam, we 
are told, after he fell " begat a son in his own image ;'^ ani that 
son was just as bad as any other son ever born into the world ; 
for he murdered his own dear brother because he was a better 
man than himself. Thus "by one man sin entered into the world, 
and death by that one sin ; and so death, the wages of sin, has 
fallen upon all the offspring of Adam,'' because in him they have 
all sinned, or been made mortal, and consequently are born under 
condemnation to that death which fell upon our common pro- 
fT^nitor because of his transgression. 



28 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

III. In Adam all have sinned; therefore, **in Adam all die." 
Your nature, gentle reader, not your person, was in Adam when 
he put forth his hand to break the precept of Jehovah. You did 
not personally sin in that act ; but your nature, then in the per* 
son of your father, sinned against the Author of your existence. 
In the just judgment, therefore, of your heavenly Father, your 
nature sinned in Adam, and with him it is right that all human 
beings should be born mortal, and that death should lord it over 
the whole race as he has done in innumerable instances even 
** over them that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam^s 
transgression,^' i.e. by violating a positive law. Now it must 
be conceded that what God can righteously and mercifully inflict 
upon a part of mankind, he may justly and mercifully inflict upon 
all ; and therefore, those that live one score or four score years on 
this earth, for the sin of their nature in Adam might have been 
extinguished the first year as reasonably as those who have in 
perfect infancy perished from the earth. Death is expressly de- 
nominated by an apostle, *' ilie wages of sin.^' Now this reward 
of sin is at present inflicted upon at least one-fourth of the human 
race who have never violated any law, or sinned personally by 
any act of their lives. According to the most accurate bills of 
mortality, from one-third to one-fourth of the whole progeny of 
man die in infancy, under two years, without the consciousness 
of good or evil. They are thus, innocent though they be as re-7 
spects actual and personal transgression, accounted as sinners 
by Him who inflicts upon them the peculiar and appropriate 
Avages of sin. This alarming and most strangely pregnant of 
all the facts in human history proves that Adam was not only 
the common father, but the actual representative of all his chil- 
dren. 

IV. There is, therefore, a sin of our nature as well as personal 
transgression. Some inappositely call the sin of our nature our 

" original sin,'' as if the sin of Adam was the personal offence of . 
all his children. True, indeed, it is ; our nature was corrupted by 
the fall of Adam before it was transmitted to us ; and hence that 
hereditary imbecility to do good, and that proneness to do evil, so 
universally apparent in all human beings. Let no man open his 
mouth against the transmission of a moral distemper, until he 
satisfactorily explain the fact, that the special characteristic vices 
of parents appear in their children as much as the colour of their 
fikin, their hair, or the contour of their faces. A disease in the 
moral constitution of man is as clearly transmissible as any phy- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 29 

Bical taint, if there be any truth in history, biography, or human 
observation. 

V. Still, man, with all his hereditary imbecility, is not under 
an invincible necessity to sin. Greatly prone to evil, easily 
Beduced into transgression, he may or may not yield to passion 
and seduction. Hence the differences we so often discover :n 
the corruption and depravity of man. All inherit a fallen, con- 
sequently a sinful nature, though all are not equally depraved. 
Thus we find the degrees of sinfulness and depravity are very 
different in different persons. And, although without the know- 
ledge of God and his revealed will — without the interposition of 
a mediator and without faith in him — "it is impossible to 
please God,^' still there are those who, while destitute of this 
knowledge and belief, are more noble and virtuous than others. 
Thus admits Luke when he says, *' The Jews in Berea were 
more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the 
word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures 
daily whether these things were so. Therefore many of them 
believed.'^ Acts xvii. 11. But, until man in his present preter- 
natural state believes the gospel report of his sins, and submits 
to Jesus Christ as the only Mediator and Saviour of sinners, it is 
impossible for him to do any thing absolutely pleasing or accept- 
able to God. 

yi. Condemned to natural death, and greatly fallen and de- 
praved in our whole moral constitution though we certainly are, 
in consequence of the sin of Adam, still, because of the inter- 
position of the second Adam, none are punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord but those who actually 
and voluntarily sin against a dispensation of mercy under which 
they are placed; for this is the "condemnation of the world that 
light has come into the world, and men cJioose darhness rather 
than the light, because their deeds are evil.^' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PURPOSES OF GOD CONCERNING MAN. 

I. The universe issued from the goodness of God. Not to 
display his power and wisdom, but to give vent to his benignity, 
God created the heavens and the earth, and peopled them with 
all variety of being. Infinite wisdom and almighty power di{' 



80 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

but execute the designs of eternal love. Goodness is the impul- 
sive attribute which prompted all that the counsel and hand of the 
Lord have executed. The current of the universe all runs on the 
side of benevolence. ''Abundant in goodness and truth/' all 
God's designs are for the diffusion of bliss on the largest possible 
scale. Evil there is ; but, under the benevolent administration of 
the Father of mercies, there will be as much good, with as little 
evil, as almighty power, guided by infinite wisdom, can achieve. 

II. We may conjecture much, but can know little of the origin 
of moral evil in God^s dominions. Its history on earth is faith- 
fully detailed in the Bible ; and that, in the divine prudence, is all 
that is necessary to our successful warfare against its power, and 
blissful escape from its penal consequences. It is not necessary 
that we should analyze and comprehend the origin and nature of 
darkness in order to enjoy the light of the sun. The influences 
of light and darkness upon our system are quite sufficient, with- 
out any theory, to induce us to eschew the former, and delight in 
the latter. *' By one man sin entered into the world,'' says Paul ; 
and "by one tempter sin entered into man," says Moses; and 
"lust when it conceives brings forth sin, and sin when it is per- 
fected brings forth death," says James the Apostle: and these 
are the landmarks of our knowledge of the matter 

III. To limit the contagion of sin, to prevent its recurrence in 
any portion of the universe, and to save sinners from its ruinous 
consequences, are the godlike purposes of the common Father of 
all. The gospel, or Christian system, is that only scheme which 
infinite intelligence and almighty love could devise for that be- 
nignant and gracious end. This purpose, like all God's purposes, 
is eternal and immutable. The scheme or theory was, therefore, 
not only arranged before the Jewish and patriarchal ages, but 
before the foundation of the world. 

IV. The promises made to Eve, to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, 
^acob, Judah, David, &c., are positive proofs that the plan was 
laid and the purposes perfected before the world began. For 
why, we ask, could God promise the conquest of Satan by the 
son of Eve, the blessing of all nations by the son of Abraham, 
c%c. &c., if a scheme of this import had not been previously e-sta- 
blished? The moment that Adam, Eve, and the serpent were 
judged, dates the first promise of a glorious conquest over our 
adversary by a descendant of Eve. That promise, and the con- 
sequent institution of sacrifice — the altar, the victim, and the 
priest — are ample proofs that the plan was completed and a 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 31 

remedial sysiem adopted antecedent to the trial of our first 
parents. 

V. But this is not to be inferred even from premises clear and 
forcible as these are. It is expressly and repeatedly declared. 
Two things are evident as demonstration itself. The first — that 
all the purposes eind promises of God are in Christ — in reference to 
him, and consummated in and by him ; and, in the second place, 
they vrere all contemplated, covenanted, and systematized in him 
and through him before the foundation of the world. These two 
propositions are so intimately connected, that they are generally 
asserted in the same portions of Scripture. For example : " He 
hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to 
our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was 
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began ; but is now 
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." 
2 Tim. i. 9. Again, " Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, in hope 
of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the 
world began; but has in due time manifested his word through 
preaching." Titus i. 1, 2.'^ " He has chosen us in him before the 
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame 
before hira in love." Eph. i. 4. Indeed, Jesus himself intimates 
that the whole affair of man^s redemption, even to the preparation 
of the eternal abodes of the righteous, was arranged ere time was 
born : for, in his own parable of the final judgment, he says, 
*' Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit a kingdom prepay^ed 
for you from the foundation of the worlds Matt. xxv. 34. And 
Peter settles the matter forever by assuring us that we " were 
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without 
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the 
foundation of the icorld,'^ Christ, then, is the Lamb that was 
foreordained, and " slain from the foundation of the world.'' 
" Therefore," says Jesus to his Father, speaking doubtless in 
contemplation of his work, " Thou lovedst me before the founda- 
tion of the world:" and thus, as Matthew quotes a Prophet speak- 
ing of him, " he uttered things which had been kept secret from 
the foundation of the world." 

* In the original the phrase in these two 'passages is pro cJironooji aionoon, trans- 
lated sometimes, '• before the times of the ages" — before the Jewish jubilees or ages 
began; and means that God's purpose to call the Geutiles was antecedent to the cove- 
nants with Abraham and the Jews. Thus understood, it only proves that the pur- 
poses and promises of God in Christ were formed and expressed before the days of 
Abraham. But it in equally true as respects the beginning of time: for the phrase 
jrro and apo kataboU Jcosmou, found ten times in the New Testament, literally indi- 
cates the foundation of the world. We quote Eph. i. 4 — Matt. xxv. 31 — 1 Peter i. 
19 — as unequivocally declarative of this. 



82 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

VI. Evident then it is, that the whole remedial or gospel sys- 
tem was purposed, arranged, and established upon the basis of 
the revealed distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; and by 
these, in reference to one another, before the foundation of the 
world ; and that all the institutions and developments of religion 
in the different ages of the world were, in pursuance of that sys- 
tem, devised in eternity, and consummated some two thousand 
years ago. 

VII. Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, was elected, or 
rather was always the elect, the beloved of God, and appointed 
to be the foundation of this new creation. *' Behold,^' said 
Jehovah, seven centuries before his birth, "I lay in Zion for a 
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner, a sure foun- 
dation,'' called by Peter " an elect stone,^^ though disallowed by 
the Jewish builders. Again, by the same prophet he is called 
the elect of God: "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine 
elect in whom my soul delights ! I have put my spirit upon him : 
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles,'^ &c. "He shall 
be for salvation to the ends of the earth.^' 

VIII. In consequence of these gracious purposes of God, the 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us — the Son of God was 
sent by his Father — became a Prophet, a High-Priest, and a King 
over men, that he might be the mediator and administrator of an 
institution of grace. He became the righteous servant of Jeho- 
vah, a voluntar}^ sacrifice for us — died, was buried, and rose 
again — ascended where he had been before — ^then, in union with 
his Fath-er, sent the Holy Spirit, who proceeded forth from the 
presence and by the authority of the Father and the Son, to con- 
summate the sanctification of his people. He is now placed upon 
the throne of God — head over all things to complete the triumphs 
of his cause — to lead many sons t^ glory — to raise the dead, 
judge the world, and revenge Satan and all that took part with 
him in his rebellion, whether angels or men — to create new hea- 
vens and a new earth, and to establish eternal peace, and love, and 
joy through all the new dominions which he shall have gained, 
and over which he shall have reigned : for he must reign till all 
his and our enemies shall have been subdued forever. Then he 
shall resign into the hands that gave him this empire all that spe- 
cies of authority which he exercised in this great work of human 
deliverance. Then God himself, in his antecedent character and 
giory, as he reigned before sin was born and this administra- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 33 

tion began^ shall preside over all things in all places forever and 
ever. 

IX. The present elect of God are, then, those who are in Christy 
and not those out of him : for it was in Mm that God has set his 
affection upon them, and chose them to eternal life before the 
world began. God is not, indeed, in this whole affair a respecter 
of persons. It is at character, and not at person, that God looks. 
lie has predestinated all that are in Christ " to be holy and with- 
out blame before him in love,'^ and, at his coming, to be con- 
formed to him in all personal excellency and beauty and to share 
with him the bliss of a glorious immortality. So that "we shall 
be like him'^ — he the Jirst-born, and we his junior brethren, bear- 
ing his image in our persons as exactly as we now bear the image 
of the earthly Adam, the father of us all. 

X. In all these gracious purposes of God, two things are most 
remarkable: — First, that he has elected and called certain persons 
to high and responsible stations as parts of a grand system of 
practical philanthropy — such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, 
Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Paul, &c. &c. These were chosen 
and elevated not for their own sakes, so much as for public 
benefactors and blessings to the human race. It is not for its 
own sake that the eye is so beautiful, or performs the functions of 
vision; nor that the ear is so curiously fashioned, and performs 
the office of hearing ; but for the general comfort and safety of the 
whole body. So stand in the family of God — in the body of 
Christ — all apostles, prophets, preachers, reformers, and all spe- 
cially called and chosen persons. As the Lord said to Saul of 
Tarsus, so may it be said of all those sons of oil — those elect 
ones — " I have appeared to you to make you a minister and a w^it- 
ness for me — to send you to the Gentiles,'^ &c. — to make you a 
public benefactor. Next to this remarkable fact is another still 
more remarkable ; — that, according to the purposes of God \x re- 
ference to the whole human race, things are so arranged and set 
in order, that all enjoyments shall be, as respects human agency, 
conditional ; and that every man, in reference to spiritual and 
eternal blessings, shall certainly and infallibly have his own 
choice. Therefore, life and death, good and evil, happiness and 
misery, are placed before man as he now is, and he is commanded 
to make his own election and take his choice. Having chosen 
the good portion, he is then to *' give all diligence to make his 
calling and election sure.'' 



34 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

CHAPTER IX. 

RELIGION FOR MAN, AND NOT MAN FOR RELIGION. 

I. Religion, as the term imports, began after the Fall ; for it 
indicates a previous apostasy. A remedial system is for a dis- 
eased subject. The primitive man could love, wonder, and adore, 
as angels now do, without religion ; but man, fallen and apostate, 
needs religion in order to his restoration to the love, and worship, 
and enjoyment of God. Religion, then, is a system of means of 
reconciliation — an institution for bringing man back to God — 
something to bind man anew to love and delight in God."^ 

II. It consists of two departments: — the things that God has 
done for us, and the things that we must do for ourselves. The 
whole proposition of necessity in this case must come from the 
offended party. Man could propose nothing, do nothing to pro- 
pitiate his Creator, after he had rebelled against him. Heaven, 
therefore, overtures; and man accepts, surrenders, and returns to 
God. The Messiah is a gift, sacrifice is a gift, justification is a 
gift, the Holy Spirit is a gift, eternal life is a gift, and even the 
means of our personal sanctification is a gift from God. Truly, 
we are saved by grace. Heaven, we say, does certain things for 
us, and also proposes to us what we should do to inherit eternal 
life. It is all of God : for he has sent his Son ; he has sent his 
Spirit; and all that they have don4, or shall do, is of free favor; 
and the proposition ccncerning our justification and sanctification 
is equally divine and gracious as the mission of his Son. We are 
only asked to accept a sacrifice which God has provided for our 
sins, and then the pardon of them, and to open the doors of our 
hearts, that the Spirit of God may come in and make its abode in 
us. God has provided all these blessings for us, and only re- 
quires us to accept of them freely, without any price or idea of 
merit on our part. But he asks us to receive them cordially, and 
to give up our hearts to him. 

in. It is in the kingdom of grace, as in the kingdom of nature. 
Heaven provides the bread, the water, the fruits, the flowers ; but 
we must gather and enjoy them. And if there be no merit in 
eating the bread which Heaven has sent for physical life and 

* Beligo, with all its Latin family, imports a linding again, or tying fast that which 
1ra^s dissolved. 



THE CURTSTIAN SYSTEM. 35 

comfort, neither is there merit in eating the bread of life which 
came down from heaven for our spiritual life and consolation. 
Still, it is true, in grace, as in nature — that he that eats njt shall 
die. Hence, there are conditions of enjoyments, though no con- 
ditions of merit, either in nature or grace. We shall therefore 
S'peak in detail of the tilings loliich God lias done, and of tJie things 
thai we must do, as essential to our salvation. First, of the things 
that God has done: — 



CHAPTER X. 

SACRIFICE FOR SIN. 



I. The history of sacrifice is the history of atonement, recon- 
ciliation, redemption, and remission of sins. These are not, at 
least in the Jewish and Christian style, exactly synonymous 
terms. Sacrifice atones and reconciles. It propitiates God, and 
reconciles man. It is the cause, and these are its effects on 
heaven and earth, on God and man. 

II. For formes sake, and, perhaps, for the sake of perspicuity, 
four questions ought here to be propounded and resolved, at the 
very threshold of our inquiries. 1. What is sacrificed? 2. To 
whom is it to be offered? 3. For whom is it to be offered? 4. Bj/ 
whom is it to be offered? The answers are as prompt and brief 
as the interrogations. 1. In its literal and primary acceptance, 
it is '' the solemn and religious injiiction of death upon an innocent 
and unoffending victim, usually by shedding its hloodJ^ Figura- 
tively, it means the offering of any thing, living or dead, person, 
or animal, or property, to God. 2. Religious sacrifice is to be 
offered to God alone. 3. It is to be ofiered for man. 4. It is to 
be offered by a priest. 

III. The greater part of sacrifices were lambs. Hence Christ 
is called the Lamb of God, not because of his innocence or pa- 
tience, but because " he taketh away,'' or beareth, " the sin of the 
world.'' It is rather, then, with a reference to his death than his 
life, that he is called the Lamb of God. Neither his example nor 
his doctrine could expiate sin. This required the shedding of 
blood : for without shedding of blood, there never was remission 
of sin. 

lY. Priests are mediators in their proper place and meaning. 



S6 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

But at first every man was his own priest. For as it was Dnce 
right for a man to marry his sister, because he could find no other 
person for a wife, so was it lawful and expedient for every man 
to be his own priest. Thus, Adam, Abel, Noah, &c. were their 
own priests. In the next chapter of time, the eldest sons — then 
the princes of tribes — were priests for their respective tribes and 
people. But finally, God called and appointed such persons as 
Melchizedek and Aaron to these offices. 

V. Sacrifice, doubtless, is as old as the Fall. The institution 
of it is not recorded by Moses, But he informs us, that God had 
respect for AbePs ofiering, and accepted from him a slain lamb. 
Now had it been a human institution, this could not have been 
the case ; for a divine warrant has always been essential to any 
acceptable worship. The question, "Who has required this at 
ycur hands ?^' must always be answered by a ^'thus saitJi the 
Lord/^ before an offering of mortal man can be acknowledged by 
the Lawgiver of the universe. " In vain,'^ said the Great Teacher, 
" do you worship God, teaching for doctrines the commandments 
of men.'' God accepted the sacrifices of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, &e., and in the Jewish system gave many laws and enact- 
ments concerning it. 

VI. Now as sacrifice may be contemplated in diff*erent aspects, 
in reference to what it is in itself, to whom it is tendered, for 
whom and by whom it is offered ; so in each of these relations, 
it may be represented under different names. Hence, it is a 
*' sin-offering/^ a thank-offering, a propitiatioji,'^ a reconciliation^ 
a redemption. Contemplated in reference to God, it is a propitia- 
tion ; in reference to mankind, it is a reconciliation ; and in 
another point of view, it may even be regarded as a redemption 
or ransom. On each of these it may be expedient to make a few 
remarks. 

YII. Sacrifice, as respects God, is a propitiation; as respects 
sinners, it is a reconciliation; as respects sin, it is an expiation; as 
respects the saved, it is a redemption. These are aspects )f the 



* The Hebrew term copher, translated in the Greek Old Testament by ilasmos. and 
in the common English version, by atonement or propitiation, signifies a covering. 
The verb copher " to covfr,'" or •' to malx atonement," denotes the object of sacrifice; 
and hence Jesus is called the ilasmos, the covering, propitiation or atonement for our 
sins. 1 John ii. 2 and iv. 10. It is a curious and remarkable foct, that God covered 
Adam and Eve with the skins of the first victims of death, instead of their Jig-leaf 
robes. This may have prefigured the fact, that while sin was atoned or expiated as 
respects God by the life of the victim, the effect as respects man was a covering for 
his nakedness and shame, or his sin, which divested him of his primitive innocence 
and beauty, and covered him with ignominy and rep roach. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 87 

thing of cardinal value in understanding the Scriptures. As a 
propiliation or atonement"^ it is offered to God ; not, indeed, to 
move his benevolence or to excite his mercy, but to render him 
propitious according to laiv and justice. It sprang from everlast- 
ing love, and is the effect and not the cause of God's benevolence 
to sinners. But without it God could not be propitious to us. 
The indignity offered his person, authority, and government, by 
the rebellion of man, as also the good of all his creatures, made 
it impossible for him, according to justice, eternal right, and his 
own Venevolence, to show mercy without sacrifice. True, indeed, 
he always does prefer mercy to sacrifice, as he prefers the end to 
the means. But divine mercy forever sits upon the propitiatory ; 
upon law and justice. Thus affirms Paul of Jesus, "Whom God 
has set forth as a propitiaioi^y through faith in his blood, for a de- 
claration of his justice — that he miglit be just, and tliejustijier of 
the ungodly, or of him that believeth in Jesus. ^^ In this sense 
only, God could not be gracious to man in forgiving him without 
a propitiation, or something that could justify him both to him- 
self and all his creatures. In this acceptation of the term atone- 
ment, it is found often in the law, not less than twenty-five times 
in the single book of Leviticus. 

YIII. As respects the sinner, we have said it is a reconciliation. 
Indeed, the term reconciliation very appropriately applies to sa- 
crifice, inasmuch as it brings forth the offended and the offender 
together. So far as it honors law and justice, it reconciles God to 
forgive ; and so far as it displays to the offender love and mercy, 
it reconciles him to his offended Sovereign. It is, in this 
view, a reconciliation indeed. It propitiates God and reconciles 
man. God's " anger is turned away ;'' (not a turbulent passion, 
not an implacable wrath:) but ^^tliat moral sentiment of justice,^* 
which demands the punishment of violated law, is pacified or 
well pleased; and man's hatred and animosity against God is 
subdued, overcome, and destroyed in and by the same sacrifice. 
Thus, in fact, it is, in reference to both parties, a reconciliation. 
Still h:'Wever, when we speak according to scriptural usage, and 
with proper discrimination, sacrifice, as respects God, is atone- 
ment or propitiation, and, as respects man, it is reconciliation. 

* KataUagee, translated once atonement, Rom. v. 11, occurs in the New Testa- 
ment four times. In Rom. v. 11, it ought to have been reconciliation, as in Rom. 
xi. 15; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. It is not ilasmos, atonement in the Jewish sense, but f-catal' 
lagee, reconciliation. God receives the atonement, and men the reconciliation. 
It is preposterous, then, to talk of the extent of the atonemeut, but not so of the 
raconciliation. 



^"t^ THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Shese are its reasons and its effects. **ror this cause/^ says 
Paul, "Jesus is the mediator of a new institution, that by means 
of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first in- 
stitution, those who had been called might receive the promise of 
the eternal inheritance/'^ Again, the same writer makes the 
death of Christ the basis of reconciliation, saying, " Be reconciled 
to God,'' for he has made Christ a sin-offering for us ; and now 
*' God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself/'f 

IX. As respects sin, it has been observed, sacrifice is an ex- 
piation. The terms purification or cleansing are in the common 
version preferred to expiation. Once, at least, (Num. xxxv. 33,) 
we have need of a better word to represent the original than the 
term cleansing, " There can be no expiation for the land^' pol 
luted with blood " but by the blood of him that shed it." Still, 
if any one prefer purification to expiation, or even cleansing to 
either, so long as we understand each other, it is indeed a matter 
of very easy forbearance. The main point is, that sacrifice can- 
cels sin, atones for sin, and puts it away. ^^He put away sin,''' 
Bays Paul, *' by the sacrifice of himself J^ This is expiation. 

X. *' The redemption, then, which is in Christ Jesus," is a 
moral and not a commercial consideration. If sin were only a 
debt, and not a crime, it might be forgiven without atonement. 
Nay, if sin were a debt, and sacrifice a payment of that debt, 
then there could be no forgiveness at all with God! For, if the 
Redeemer or Ransomer of man has paid the debt, justice, and 
not mercy or forgiveness, commands the release, not the pardon 
of the debtor. Some there are, however, who from inattention to 
the sacred style, and the meaning of biblical terms, have actually 
represented the death of Christ rather as the payment of an im- 
mense debt than as an expiation of sin, or a purification from 
guilt, and have thus made the pardon of sin wholly unintelli- 
gible, or rather, indeed, impossible. Every one feels, that when a 
third person assomes a debt, and pays it, the principal must bo 
discharged, and cannot be forgiven. But when sin is viewed in 
the light of a crime, and atonement offered by a third person, 
then it is a question of grace, whether the pardon or acquittal of 
the sinner shall le granted by him against whom the crime has 
been committed; ])ecause, even after an atonement or propitiation 
is made, the transgressor is yet as deserving of punishment as 
before. There is room, then, for both justice and mercy ; for the 

♦ Hebiows ix. 15. f 2 Cor. v. 20. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. "69 

display of indignation against sin, and the forgiveness of tU 
sinner; in just views of sin, and of the redemption there is m 
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

XI. Redemption, however, is the deliverance from sin, rather 
than the expiation or atonement for it. Thus, Christ is said "by 
his own blood to have obtained an eternal redemption for us.""^ 
Thus pardon, sanctiiication, and even the resurrection of the 
bodies of the saints, are severally contemplated as parts of our 
redemption, or deliverance from the guilt of sin, from the power 
of sin, and from the punishment of sin.f 

XII. There is a number of incongruities and inaccuracies in 
the controversy about the nature and extent of the atonement, 
which, as the mists of the morning retire from the hills before 
the rising sun, disappear from our mental horizon when the light 
of scriptural definition breaks in upon our souls. The atonement 
or propitiation has no ^^ extent, ^^ because God alone is its object. 
It contemplates sin as a unit in the divine government, and there- 
fore the ^^Lamh of God beareth away the sin of the world/' and 
his death is a ^' sin-offering J ^ As to its value, it is unspeakable. 
Commensurate it is, indeed, with the sin of the world; for it 
makes it just on the part of God to forgive and save every one 
that believeth in Jesus. Reconciliation and redemption have, 
however, a certain limited extent. Reconciliation is not univer- 
sal, but partial. All do not believe in Jesus ; all are, therefore, 
not reconciled to God through him. Redemption, or deliverance 
from the guilt, pollution, power, and punishment of sin, is only 
commensurate with the elect of God, ix, with those who believe 
in Jesus and obey him. 

XIII. They who affirm that one drop of Christ^s blood could 
expiate the sin of the whole world, teach, without knowing it, 
that Christ has died in vain : for, surely the Messiah might have 
shed many drops of blood and still have lived. They make his 
death an unmeaning superfluity or redundancy who reason thus. 
They also agree, without intending it, with those who view sin 
merely as a debt, and not a crime, and therefore say that there is 
no need of sin-offerings, or sacrifice, or of a divine Saviour, in 
order to its forgiveness. 

Xiy. They, too, seem to mistake the matter; and I am sorry 
to find such names among them as Butler, Whitby, and Mac- 

* Hebrews ix. 12. 

t See Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. U; 1 Pet. 18 : Isa. lix. 20; Rom. yiii. 23 ; Eph. i. U, iv. 30. 



40 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Knight, wlio, while they contend that the death of Christ was a 
sacrifice, or a propitiation for sin, wholly resolve its efficacy into 
the mere appointment of God. According to them, God might 
have saved the whole world without the appearance of his Son ; 
for the merit or efficacy of Christ^s death arises not from his dig- 
nity of person, but from the mere appointment or will of God ! 
Now we cannot think that it was possible for God himself to save 
sinners in any other way than he has chosen ; for to have paid an 
overprice for our redemption savors rather of prodigality than of 
divine wisdom and prudence. And if mere appointment was 
sufficient, why not, then, have continued the legal sacrifices, and 
have made the blood of bulls and of goats efficacious to take it 
away? 

XV. To conclude, sacrifice is essential to remission of sins, 
and is therefore old as the fall of man. But the sacrifices of the 
patriarchal and Jewish dispensations could not and did not take 
away sin. They were but types of the real sacrifice ; for, as Paul 
gays, "It was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could 
take away sin.^' And again, ** If the blood of bulls and of goats, 
with the ashes of a heifer, did cleanse to the purification of the 
flesh, how much more shall the hlood of Christ, who through an 
eternal spirit offers himself to God, cleanse your conscience from 
dead works to serve the living God V Christ's death is, there- 
fore, a real and sufficient sacrifice for sin, and stands in the at- 
titudes of propitiatiouy reconciliation, expiation, and redemption ; 
from which spring to us justification, sanctification, adoption, and 
eternal life. 

XVI. The sacrifice of Christ, as before affirmed, is, as respects 
God, a propitiation ; as respects man, a reconciliation ; as respects 
sin, an expiation ; as respects the penitent, a redemption ; but the 
attributes that apply to it in any of these aspects do not apply to 
it in the others : and this oversight has, in our opinion, been 
the fruitful source of interminable controversies concerning the 
^^ atonement,^ ^ as it is most usually denominated. It is, indeed, in- 
finite in value, as respects the expiation of sin, or its propitiatory 
power ; but as respects the actual reconciliation and redemption of 
sinners, it is limited to those only who believe on and obey the 
Saviour. While, also, it is as universal as the sin of the world, 
the peculiar sins only of the obedient are expiated by it. Its de- 
sign, then, is necessarily limited to all who come to God by it ; 
while its value and efficacy are equal to the salvation of the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 41 

whole world, provided only the}^ will put themselves under the 
covering of its propitiatory power. 

XVII. The " doctrine of the cross'' being the great central 
doctrine of the Bible, and the very essence of Christianity — Avhich 
explains all the peculiarities of the Christian system, and of the 
relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as far as mortals can 
comprehend them, and as it has been, to skeptics and to many pro- 
fessors, *' a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,'^ for the sake 
of some of the speculative and cavilling, who ask lohy are ilie^e 
things sof I subjoin an extract from the writings of Mr, Watson, 
on this point, which may suggest to them some useful reflections 
on this cardinal and all absorbing subject: — 

XYIII. " How sin may be forgiven, ''' says Mr. Watson, "without 
leading to such misconceptions of the divine character as would 
encourage disobedience, and thereby weaken the influence of the 
divine government, must be a problem of very difficult solution. 
A government which admitted no forgiveness, would sink the 
guilty to despair; a government which never punishes offence, is 
a contradiction; it cannot exist. Not to punish the guilty, is to 
dissolve authority ; to punish without mercy is to destroy, and 
where all are guilty, to make the destruction universal. That we 
cannot sin with impunity, is a matter determined. The Ruler of 
the world is not careless of the conduct of his creatures : for that 
penal consequences are attached to the offence, is not a subject of 
argument, but it is matter of fact, evident by daily observation of 
the events and circumstances of the present life. It is a principle, 
therefore, already laid down, that the authority of God must be 
preserved ; but it ought to be remarked, that in that kind of ad- 
ministration which restrains evil by penalty, and encourages obe- 
dience by favor and hope, we and all moral creatures are the in- 
tercF/ted parties, and not the Divine Governor himself, whom, 
because of his independent and all-sufficient nature, our trans- 
gressions cannot injure. The reasons, therefore, which compel 
him to maintain his authority, do not terminate in himself. If 
he treats offenders with severity, it is for our sake, and for the 
sake of the moral order of the universe, to which sin, if encouraged 
by a negligent administration, or by entire and frequent impunity, 
would be the source of endless disorder and misery; and if the 
granting of pardon to offence be strongly and even severely guard- 
ed, so that no less a satisfaction could be accepted than the death 

of God's own Son, we are to refer this to the moral necessity of 

4iiJ 



42 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the case, as arising out of the general welfare of accountable 
creatures, liable to the deep evil of sin, and not to any reluctance 
on the part of our Maker to forgive, much less to any thing vin- 
dictive in his nature, charges which have been most inconsider- 
ately and unfairly said to be implied in the doctrine of Christ's 
sacrificial sufferings. If it then be true, that the release of offend- 
ing man from future punishment, and his restoration to the divine 
favor, ought, for the interest of mankind themselves, and for the 
instruction and caution of other beings, to be so bestowed, that 
no license shall be given to offence ; that God himself, while he 
manifests his compassion, should not appear less just, less holy 
than he really is; that his authority should be felt to be as com- 
pelling, and that disobedience should as truly, though not uncon- 
ditionally, subject us to the deserved penalty, as though no hope 
of forgiveness had been exhibited ; — we ask, On what scheme, 
save that which is developed in the New Testament, are those 
necessary conditions provided for? Necessary they are, unless 
we contend for a license and an impunity which shall annul all 
good government in the universe, a point for which no reasonable 
man will contend ; and if so, then we must allow, that there is 
strong internal evidence of the truth of the doctrine of scripture, 
when it makes the offer of pardon consequent only upon the se- 
curities we have mentioned. If it be said, that sin may be par- 
doned, in the exercise of the divine prerogative, the reply is, that 
if this prerogative were exercised towards a part of mankind only, 
the passing by of the rest would be with difficulty reconciled to 
the divine character; and if the benefit were extended to all, 
government would be at an end. This scheme of bringing men 
within the exercise of a merciful prerogative does not, therefore, 
meet the obvious difficulty of the case ; nor is it improved by con- 
fining the act of grace only to repentant criminals. For if repent- 
ance imply a " renewal in the spirit of the mind,'^ no criminal 
would of himself thus repent. But if by repentance be meant 
merely remorse and terror in the immediate view of danger, what 
offender, surrounded with the wreck of former enjoyments, feel- 
ing the vanity of guilty pleasures, now past forever, and behold- 
ing the approach of the delayed penal visitation, but would re- 
pent? Were the principle Df granting pardon to repentance to 
regulate human governments, every criminal would escape, and 
judicial forms would become a subject of ridicule. Nor is it re-* 
cognised by the Divine Being, in his conduct to men in the pre- 
sent state, although in this world punishments are net final and 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 43 

absolute. Repentance does not restore health injured by intem- 
perance ; property wasted by profusion ; or character once stained 
by dishonorable practices. If repentance alone could secure 
pardon, then all must be pardoned, and government dissolved, as 
in the case of forgiveness by the exercfse of mere prerogative ; 
but if a merely arbitrary selection be made, then different and 
discordant principles of government are introduced into the divine 
administration, which is a derogatory supposition. 

XIX. The question proposed abstractedly, How may mercy be 
extended to offending creatures, the subjects of the divine govern- 
ment, without encouraging vice by lowering the righteous and 
holy character of God, and the authority of his government in the 
maintenance of which the whole universe of beings are interest- 
ed? is, therefore, at once one of the most important and one of 
the most difficult that can employ the human mind. None of the 
theories which have been opposed to Christianity affords a satis- 
factory solution of the problem. They assume principles either 
destructive of moral government, or which cannot, in the circum- 
stances of man, be acted upon. The only answer is found in the 
holy Scriptures. They alone show, and indeed, they alone profess 
to show, how God may be ''just,^' and yet the "justifier^^ of the 
ungodly. Other schemes show how he may be merciful ; but the 
difficulty does not lie there. The gospel meets it, by declaring 
*' the righteousness of God,^' at the same time that it proclaims 
his mercy. The voluntary suffering of the divine Son of God, 
*'for us,'' "the just for the unjust,'' magnify the justice of God; 
display his hatred to sin ; proclaim '' the exceeding sinfulness" of 
transgression, by the deep and painful manner in which they were 
inflicted upon the Substitute ; warn the persevering offender of the 
terribleness, as well as the certainty, of his punishment ; and open 
the gates of salvation to every penitent. It is a part of the same 
divine plan, also, to engage the influence of the Holy Spirit, to 
awaken penitence in man, and to lead the wanderer back to him- 
self; to renew our fallen nature in righteousness, at the moment 
we are justified through faith, and to place us in circumstances in 
which we may henceforth *' walk not after the flesh, but after the 
Spirit." All the ends of government are here answered — no li- 
cense is given to offence — the moral law is unrepealed — a day of 
judgment is still appointed — future and eternal judgments still 
display their awful sanctions — a new and singular display of the 
awful purity of the divine character is afforded — yet pardon ia 
offered to all who seek it ; and the whole world may be saved. 



44 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

XX. With such evidence of the suitableness to the case of 
mankind, under such lofty views of connexion with the princi- 
ples and ends of moral government, does the doctrine of the 
atonement present itself. But other important considerations are 
not wanting to mark the united wisdom and goodness of that me- 
thod of extending mercy to the guilty, which Christianity teaches 
us to have been actually and exclusively adopted. It is rendered, 
indeed, "worthy of all acceptation,'' by the circumstance of its 
meeting the difficulties we have just dwelt upon — difficulties 
which could not otherwise have failed to make a gloomy impres- 
sion upon every offender awakened to a sense of his spiritual 
danger ; but it must be very inattentively considered, if it does 
not further commend itself to us, by not only removing the ap- 
prehensions we might feel as to the severity of the Divine Law- 
giver, but as exalting him in our esteem, as *'the righteous Lord, 
who loveth righteousness,'' who surrendered his beloved Son to 
suffering and death, that the influence of moral goodness might 
not be weakened in the hearts of his creatures ; and as a God of 
love, affording in this instance a view of the tenderness and be- 
nignity of his nature, infinitely more impressive and affecting 
than any abstract description could convey ; or than any act of 
creating or providential power and grace could exhibit, and there- 
fore most suitable to subdue that enmity which had unnaturally 
grown up in the hearts of his creatures, and which, when corrupt, 
they so easily transfer from a law which restrains their inclina- 
tion, to the Lawgiver himself. If it be important to us to know 
the extent and reality of our danger, by the death of Christ it is 
displayed, not in description, but in the most impressive action; 
if it be important that we should have an assurance of the divine 
placability towards us, it here receives a demonstration incapable 
of being heightened ; if gratitude be the most powerful motive of 
future obedience, and one which renders command on the one 
part, and active service on the other, "not grievous but joyous," 
the recollection of such obligations as those which the " love of 
Christ" has laid us under is a perpetual spring to this energetic 
affection, and will be the means of raising it to higher and more 
delightful activity forever. All that can most powerfully illus- 
trate the united tenderness and awful majesty of God, and the 
odiousness of sin ; all that can win back the heart of man to his 
Maker and Lord, and render future obedience a matter of affection 
and delight, as well as duty ; all that can extinguish the angry and 
malignant passions of man to man; all that can inspire a mutual 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 45 

benevolence, and dispose to a self-denying charity for the benefit 
of others ; all that can arouse by hope, or tranquillize by faith, is 
to be found in the sacrificial death of Christ, and the principles 
and purposes for which it was endured/' 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE ATTRIBUTES OF A REAL SIN-OFFERING. 

I. A SINGLE action or event often involves, in weal or woe, a 
family, a nation, an empire. Who can count the efi'ects or bear- 
ings of the elevation or fall of a Caesar, a Hannibal, a Napoleon? 
A single victory, like that of Zama, or of AYaterloo, a single re- 
volution, like that of England or America, sometimes involves 
the fortunes of a world. Neither actions nor events can be ap- 
preciated but through their bearings and tendencies upon every 
person and thing w^ith which they come in contact. The rela- 
tions, connections, and critical dependencies in which persons 
and actions stand are often so numerous and so various that it is 
seldom, or, perhaps, not at all, in the power of man to calculate 
the consequences or the value of one of a thousand of the more 
prominent actions of his life. 

II. Who could have estimated, or who can estimate, the moral 
or the political bearings of the sale of Joseph to a band of Ish- 
maelites — of the exposure of Moses in a cradle of rushes on the 
Nile — of the anointing of David King of Israel — of the schism 
of the twelve tribes under Rehoboam — of the treachery of Judas — 
of the martyrdom of Stephen, the conversion of Paul, the acces- 
sion of Constantino the Great, the apostasy of Julian, the cru- 
sades against the Turks, the reformation of Luther, the revival of 
letters, or any of the great movements of the present day? How 
difi&cult, then, is it to estimate the rebellion of Satan, the fall of 
Adam, the death of Christ, in all their bearings upon the desti- 
nies of the universe ! 

III. Before a remedy for sin could either be devised or appre- 
ciated, a knowledge of its bearing upon God and man, upon time 
and eternity, upon heaven and earth, is an indispensable pre- 
requisite. But who possesses this knowledge, or what uninspired 
man can attain it? At best we know but in part; and, therefore, 
can but partially explain any thing. How difficult, then, to form 



46 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

a satisfactory view of sin and its remedy — of the fall of Adam 
and the death of Christ ! 

TV. It would, however, greatly aid our conceptions of the death 
of Christ, and illustrate the nature and use of sin-offei^ings, could 
we obtain just and scriptural views of sin in its necessary con- 
sequences, or in its prominent bearings upon the universe. In- 
deed, some knowledge of these aspects of sin is essential to our 
perception and appreciation of the wisdom, justice, and grace of 
the Christian system. It is not enough that we entertain a few 
vague and indistinct notions of its tendencies, or of the attitudes 
in which it stands to God, ourselves, and our fellows: we must 
have clear and definite views of the relations in which God stands 
to us, and we to him and to one another, and how sin affects us all 
in these relations : for that it bears a peculiar aspect to each of us in 
all these relations will, we doubt not, be conceded without debate. 

y. God stands in diverse relations to the intellectual and moral 
creation. He is our Father, our Lawgiver, and our King. Now 
his feelings as a father, and his character as a lawgiver and sove- 
reign, are equally involved in the bearings and aspects of sin. 
The influence of sin upon ourselves is also various and multiform. 
It affects the heart, the conscience, the whole soul and body of 
man. It alienates our affections, and even works hatred in our 
minds both towards God and man. As an ancient adage says, 
*' We hate those we have injured ;^^ and, having offended God our 
Father, we are for that very reason filled with enmity against 
him. It also oppresses and pollutes the conscience with its guilt 
and dread, and enslaves the passions as well as works the de- 
struction of the body. It also alienates man from man, weakens 
the authority and destroys the utility of law, and, if not subdued, 
would ultimately subvert the throne and government of God. If 
not restrained and put down, it would fill the universe with 
anarchy and disorder — with universal misery and ruin. 

VI. To go no further into details, it may, on the premises al- 
ready before us, be observed :— 1st. That every sin wounds the 
affection of our heavenly Father. 2d. Insults and dishonors his 
law and authority in the estimation of his other subjects. 3d. 
Alienates our hearts from him. 4th. Oppresses our conscience 
with guilt and dread. 5th. Severs us from society by its morbid 
selfishness and disregard for man. 6th. Induces to new infrac- 
tions and habitual violations of right. And 7th. Subjects us to 
shar^ ; and contempt — our bodies to the dust, and our persons tc 
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 47 

VII. Not as the full tale, but rather as a specimen of the loss 
sustained, and of the mischief done, by our transgression, we 
have made these seven specifications. These only serve to show 
in how many aspects sin must be contemplated before we can 
form a just estimate of a suitable and sufficient sin-offering or 
remedy. 

YIII. Now, so far as we have been able to trace the tendencies 
and bearings of transgression in the above enumeration, we must 
find in the sin-offering a remedy and an antidote which will fully 
meet all these aspects ; otherwise ifc will be utterly valueless and 
unavailing in the eye of enlightened reason, as well as in the 
righteous judgment of God, to expiate sin, to put it away, and to 
prevent its recurrence. 

IX. Need we demonstrate that man himself cannot furnish 
such a sin-offering ? Need we again propound Micah's question, 
" Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before 
the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings — 
with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thou- 
sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I 
give my first-born for my transgression ; the fruit of my body for 
the sin of my soul V^ Will repentance for the past, and future 
amendment, place things as they were, raise the murdered dead, 
repair wasted fortunes, and recruit broken constitutions ? Will 
tears, and groans, and agonies, honor a violated law, sustain a 
righteous government, vindicate the divine character, and pre- 
vent further enormities ? Have they ever done it ? Can they 
ever do it? Surely, we shall be excused for not attempting to 
prove that we have neither a tear, nor a sigh, nor an agony, nor 
a lamb, nor a kid of our own creation, to offer to the Lord, even 
were such a sacrifice available to meet all the bearings of the 
case 1 

X. Every transgression, even the least, the eating of a forbid- 
den apple, subjects the transgressor to destruction. One sin, of 
one man, has involved the whole race in death. The life of the 
transgressor is demanded in the very mildest accents of insulted 
justice. Hence, in the law of the typical sin-offerings, we find 
it thus written: " The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have 
given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your 

souls : FOR IT IS THE BLOOD THAT MAKETH AN ATONEMENT FQR 

THE souL.^^^ But such blood, such lives as the law required, 
could not, Paul and Common Sense being judge, take away sin, 

♦ Leyit. xvii. 11. 



48 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

They could only prefigure a life and a hlood that could truly, and 
justly, and honorably expiate it. Thus, the death of Christ is 
forced upon our attention by the law, by the prophets, and by the 
necessity of the case, enlightened Reason being in the chair, as 
the only real, true, and proper sin-atoning offering. It does, in- 
deed, meet not only the above seven particulars, but all others 
wihich have occurred to the human mind; and thus secures the 
union and harmony of things on earth, and of things in heaven, 
in the inviolable bonds of an everlasting brotherhood. 

XI. 1st. " In bringing many sons to glory,'^ it soothes and de- 
iights the wounded love of our kind and benignant heavenly 
Father. 2d. " It magnifies and makes honorable^^ his violated law 
and insulted government. 3d. It reconciles our hearts thoroughly 
and forever to God, as a proof and pledge incontrovertible of his 
wonderful and incomprehensible love to us. 4th. It effectually 
relieves our conscience by " cleansing us from all sin," and pro- 
duces within us a divine serenity, a peace and joy "unspeakable 
and full of glory." 5th. It also reconciles us to our fellows, and 
fills us wiuh brotherly affection and universal benevolence, be- 
cause it makes us all one in faith, in hope, in joy, as joint heirs 
of immortality and eternal life. 6th. It is the most effectual guard 
against new infractions of the divine law, and superlatively de- 
ters from sin, by opening to us its diabolical nature and tremen- 
dous consequences, showing us, in the person of God^s only-be- 
gotten and well-beloved Son, when a sin-offering, the impossi- 
bility of escape from the just and retributive punishment of 
insulted and indignant Heaven. And 7th. It is a ransom from 
death, a redemption from the grave, such a deliverance from the 
guilt, pollution, power, and punishment of sin, as greatly ele- 
vates the sons of God above all that they could have attained or 
enjoyed under the first constitution. It presents a new creation 
to our view : — new heavens, new earth, new bodies, new life, new 
joys, new glories. He that vanquished death by dying, who now 
fills upon the throne, says, '* Behold, I make all things new." " He 
has become the Author of an eternal salvation to all that obey 
him." 

XII. Let no one imagine that in this exemplification of the as- 
pects in which sin and sin-offerings must be contemplated before 
We can rationally judge of the necessity, the suitableness, and 
the sufficiency of the death of Christ, we have attempted to pre- 
sent a full view of these aspects. We are incompetent to the 
task. This life is too short, and our opportunities too limited, to 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 49 

learn all the bearings of transgression upon ourselves, the thron? 
and government of God, and his other subjects. We only intend 
a specimen of the points to be met in a proper sin-offering. These 
put it out of the reach of all human, of all angelic, of all created 
mediators, victims, or sacrifices to expiate sin. So ftir as we can 
comprehend this wonderful subject, we are more and more deeply 
penetrated with the conviction, that nothing inferior to the volun- 
tary sacrifice of the Son of God, could put away sin ; and make 
It both just, and merciful, and honorable, and safe, on the part of 
his God and Father, to forgive and save one of his rebel race. 
Nor would it then have been just, according to our conception, to 
have compelled him to bear our iniquities, or to sufier the just for 
the unjust; to inflict on an innocent person, the chastisement of 
our offences; but it was both just and kind on the part of our 
heavenly Father, to accept for us the voluntary surrender of his 
Son, as a willing sacrifice for our sins. *' Thanks be to God for 
his unspeakable gift I" 



CHAPTER XL 

CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 

I. As Abraham said to Isaac on his way to Mount Moriah, 
**God,'' my son, "will provide himself a lamb fo-r a burnt-offer- 
ing,'' so has it come to pass. In order to the redemption of man 
from sin and all its penal consequences, God has provided a lamb 
for a sin-offering. He sent his Son, who, on coming into the 
w^orld, said, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body 
hast thou prepared me ; in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sins 
thou hast had no pleasure ; then said I, Lo, I come to do thy Avill, 
in the volume of the book it is written of me.'' But he did more 
than offer himself as a sin-offering ; he was more than the Lamb 
cf God ; he was the " Prophet of Jehovah/' and revealed to man 
the character and the will of God. He disclosed secrets hid from 
the foundation of the world. In one word, he is the oracle, as 
well as the sacrifice, which God has provided for us. 

II. As the Incarnate Word, he is the interpreter of his will. 
The New Testament is, then, the gift of Christ — and was written 
by his guidance and inspiration. For all that the Spirit of God 
has dono has been through his instrumentality. The Spirit is 

5 



50 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Christ's gift. Jesus is now as much *' Lord of the Spirit*' as 
he is the Lord of life and glory. The New Testament is a vo- 
lume written by his servants. Six of his Apostles and two of his 
Evangelists wrote it all. That book is to us now in the stead of 
the personal presence of the Lord and his Apostles. He gave 
gifts to men after he left their abode. "He gave Apostles, Prp- 
phets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers.'* As a means of our sal- 
vation ; as one of the things which God has done for us, we place 
the New Testament, the living oracles, or gospel of Christ, as 
next in order, as it is in importance, to his sacrifice. 

III. To the sacrifice of Christ, we always look for the basis of 
our pardon ; to his blood that cleanses from all sin, for justifica- 
tion and personal acceptance ; and to his Word we look for counsel 
and instruction in Christian piety and righteousness. "We are 
as dependent on his Word for light, as we are upon his blood for 
pardon. " I am,'* said he, *' the light of the world ; he that 
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the ligJit 
of life/' *'In him was life, and the life was the light of men.** 
*' That was the true light,** said John, *' which, coming into the 
world, enlighteneth every man.** "As long as I am in the world,*' 
says Jesus, "I am the light of the world.** Thus Isaiah spake of 
him: *'I will also give thee as a light to the Gentiles, that thou 
mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth.*' " I will give 
thee for a covenant of the people, or light of the Gentiles, to open 
the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison ; and 
them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.** " His going 
forth is prepared as the morning.** " The Sun of Eighteousness 
will arise with healing under his wings.** "I witness,** said 
Paul, " both to small and great, that the Messiah should show 
light to the people and to the Gentiles.*' The word of Christ 
is the light of Christ ; and therefore the Christian Scriptures are 
the light of the world ; and he that followeth them shall have the 
light of life. " If you continue in my doctrine,** says the Mes- 
siah, " you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
free." " If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 51 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE LORDSHIP OF THE MESSIAH. 

I. We are seeking to apprehend the things done for us in the 
Christian system. *' Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed for 
us.^' As such " not a bone of him was broken.'^ Yet, "he died 
for us.^^ In the second place, he has become our prophet, as well 
as our priest; and has dechired to us the will of God, the w^iole 
will of God concerning us. He is our light, as well as our sin- 
offering. But in the third place, he has been made Lord for us. 
To make Christ Lord /or us, as well as of us — was the last act of 
the sublime drama of man's redemption from sin. The last secret 
of the mystery of Christ, which Peter promulged on the day of 
Pentecost, was, " Let all the house of Israel know, that God has 
made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and 
Christ. '^ To make him Lord for us, was to invest him with 
universal authority, that he might have it in his power to give 
eternal life to all his people. Jesus, in one of his prayers, in an- 
ticipation of his investiture, says, *'Thou hast given him power 
over all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many as thou 
hast given him.'' But after his resurrection from the dead, and 
ascension into heaven, he was crowned Lord of angels, as well 
as Lord of men ; and therefore he said, " all authority,'' or lord- 
ship, " in heaven and on earth is given to me." He is now the 
Lord of HOSTS : legions of angels, the armies of the skies, are 
given to him : — for what? That he might be able to do all for us 
that our condition needs. It was /or us he became a Prophet, /or 
us he became a Priest, for us he has been made Lord of hosts, 
King of the universe. Judge and avenger of all. He is Lord of 
life. Lord of the Spirit, Lord of all. 

II. We need sacrifice — and therefore we need a priest. We 
need a Leader, a Luminary, a Sun of Righteousness ; and we 
want one who can always help us in time of need, when we 
wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the dark- 
ness of this world ; with wicked spirits living in the air. If Jesu« 
himself, in one of these conflicts, needed an angel to minister to 
him, we need it more. 

III. Three things are done for us : a sin-ofiering is presented ; 
a lamp of life is put into our hands ; and all the active powers and 



52 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

energies in tlie ^Yide universe are placed at the command of our 
King whenever he needs them. These are things ah-eady done. 
Hence, the Holy Spirit, and all the angels of Heaven are now at 
the disposal of our Saviour : for in him all the promises of God 
are laid up ; all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and all 
the fulness of the Deity, reside fully and truly in him. All these 
things, it is true, might be comprehended in one gift — the gift of 
Jesus as our Mediator ; our Prophet, Priest, and King. Still it is 
expedient to view the things done for us, severally and distinctly 
in the Christian system. 

IV. Other things are promised to he done for us : but these are 
the things already done for us, and before we shall speak of the 
things yet to be done for us, and done in us, we shall summarily 
consider the things to be done by us, before any thing more can 
be done for us, or done in us. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

FAITH IN CHRIST. 



I. The things done for us will truly be to us as though they 
were not, unless they are believed. Hence to the untutored and 
unbelieving barbarian or infidel, the universe is without a sin- 
offering, a Sun of Righteousness, a Lord, Redeemer, and a Holy 
Spirit. Faith is necessary only as a means of attainment ; as a 
means of enjoyment. It is not, then, an arbitrary enactment or 
requisition, but a gracious mean of salvation. 

II. Faith in Christ is the effect of belief. Belief is the cause; 
and trust, confidence, or faith in Christ, the effect. ''''The faithJ^ 
sometimes means ilie truth to be believed. Sometimes it means 
^Hhe 'belief of the truth f^ but here we speak of it metonymically, 
putting the effect for the cause — or calling the effect by the name 
of the cause. To believe what a person says, and to trust in him 
are not always identical. True, indeed, they often are ; for if a 
person speaks to us concerning himself, and states to us matters 
of great interest to ourselves, requiring confidence in him, to be- 
lieve what he says, and to believe or trust in him, are in effect, 
one and the same thing. Suppose a physician present himself to 
one that is sick, stating his ability and willingness to heal him : 
to believe him is to trust in him, and to put ourselves under his 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 58 

guidance; provided, only, we love health rather than sickness, 
and life rather than death. 

III. While, then, faith is the simple belief of testimony, or of 
the truth, and never can be more nor less than that ; b,s a principle 
of action it has respect to a person or thing interesting to us : and 
is confidence or trust in that person or thing. Novr the belief of 
what Christ says of himself, terminates in trust or confidence in 
him : and as the Christian religion is a personal thing, both as 
respects subject and object, that faith in Christ which is essential 
to salvation is not the belief of any doctrine, testimony, or truth, 
abstractly, but belief in Christ ; trust or confidence in him as a 
person, not a thing. "^ We take Paul's definition of the term and 
of the thing, as perfectly simple, intelligible, and sufficient. For 
the term faith, he substitutes the belief of the truth, '* God has 
from the beginning, chosen you to salvation, through the sancti- 
cation of the Spirit ; through the belief of the truth.^'f And of 
the thing, he says, "Faith is the confdence of things hoped for, 
the conviction of things not seen.'' J And John says, it is " re- 
ceiving testimony,'^ for '*if we receive the testimony of man,'^ 
as a principle of action, or put trust in it, " the testimony of God 
is greater,^' and of course will produce greater confidence. || Any 
belief, then, that does not terminate in our personal confidence in 
Jesus as the Christ, and to induce trustful submission to him, is 
not faith unfeigned ; but a dead faith, and cannot save the soul. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

REPENTANCE. 



I. Eepentance is an effect of faith : for who that believes not 
that God exists, can have ** repentance towards God" ? Repent- 
ance is sorrow for sins committed ; but it is more. It is a resolu- 
tion to forsake them ; but it is more. It is actual '' ceasing to do 
evil, and learning to do well." This is ^'repentance unto life/' or 
what is truly called reformation. Such is the force of the com- 
mand, ''Eepent, every one of you.'' It is not merely, Be sorry for 
what you have done wrong ; nor is it. Resolve to do better ; nor 

* See the Essay on the Foundation of Christian Union, on he terms, fact, testi' 
mony, faith, d-c., where this subject is treated at large. 
t 2 Thess. ii. 3. X Heb. xi. 1. 11 1 John v. 9. 



54 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

even try to amend your ways : but it is actual amendment of life 
from the views and the motives which the gospel of Christ ex- 
hibits. Gospel repentance is the offspring of gospel light and 
gospel motive, and therefore, it is the effect, and not the cause, of 
belief of the testimony of God. 

II. True repentance is, then, always consummated in actual 
reformation of life. It therefore carries in its very essence, the 
idea of restitution. For no man can cordially disallow or repro- 
bate his sinful course of life, who does not redress the wrongs he 
has done, to the utmost limit of his power. To God he can make 
no restitution, only as he refunds to his creatures, whom he has 
injured. If, then, any one is convicted in his own mind, that hew 
has injured the person, the character, or the property of his neigh-/ 
bor, by word or deed, and has it in his power, by word or deed, 
to undo the evil he has done, or to restore what he has unjustly 
taken away, he will certainly do it, if his repentance be accord- 
ing to either the law of Moses or the gospel of Christ. Other- 
wise his repentance is of no value: for God cannot, without 
trampling on his own law, and dishonoring his own character, 
forgive any man who is conscious of any sin he has done to any 
man, unless to the utmost extent of his power he make good the 
injury he has done. Thus saith the Lord, *'If a soul sin and 
commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbor in 
that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, [i. e. 
trading,) or in any thing taken away by violence, or has deceived 
his neighbor, or have found that which was lost, and lieth con- 
cerning it, or sweareth falsely ; in any or all these that a man doeth, 
sinning therein : then it shall be, because he hath sinned and is 
guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or 
the thing which he has deceiifidly gotten, or that which was de- 
livered him to keep, or that lost thing which he found, or all that 
about which he has sworn fiilsely, he shall even restore in in the 
principal^ and shall add a fifth part more thereto, and give it to 
him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass-offering, 
and he shall bring his trespass-offering to the Lord, and the priest 
shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and it shall be 
forgiven him.^^ Levit. vi. 1-7. Sin-offerings without repentance, 
and repentance without sin-offerings, are equally ineffectual be- 
rore God. We sin against God always, when we sin against 
man ; and therefore, after making all things right with man, we 
can only, through sacrifice, which makes the matter right with 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



God, obtain forgiveness. To the same effect, Jesas speaks, Matt* 
V. 23, 24, "Be reconciled to your brother,^' first make the matter 
right with him, "and then come and offer your gift.'^^ 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BAPTISM. 



I There are three things to be considered in baptism: — 1. Tha 
action commanded to be done; — 2. The subject specified ; — 3. The 
meaning or design of that action. Jesus commanded a certain 
character to be the subject of a certain aciion, for a certain specific 
purpose or design. The questions, then, are, What that action ? 
What that subject? What that design? 

OF THE ACTION. 

II. The action is indicated by a word as definite, clear, and 
unequivocal, as any word in any language ever spoken by the 
many-tongued sons of Adam. Besides, in all laws and institu- 
tions, and more especially in those that are of a positive, rather 
than a moral nature, all words having both a literal and a figura- 
tive meaning, a common and a special signification, are to be un- 
derstood in their literal and common, and not in their figurative 
and uncommon import and acceptation. So have decided all the 
judges of law and language, from time immemorial. 

III. That definite and unambiguous word, as almost universally 
known in these days of controversy, is bapfisma, or baptismos, 
anglicized, not translated, baptism. The primary means by which 
the meaning of this word is ascertained are the following : — 1. 
The ancient lexicons and dictionaries ; — 2. The ancient and mo- 
dern translations of the New Testament ; — 3. The ancient customs 
of the ohurch ; — 4. The place and circumstances of baptizing, as 
mentioned in the New Testament; — and 5. The allusions to this 
ordinance and the expositions of it in the apostolic epistle?. To 
each of these we shall do little more than simply advert on the 
present occasion. 

1. The ancient lexicons with one consent, give immersion as 
the natural, common, and primary sense of this word. There is 

* See my Essays on Regeneration, on the words repentance and reparation. 



56 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

not known to us a single exception. Nor is there a received lex? 
con, ancient or modern, that does ever translate this word bj the 
terms sprinkling, or pouring. And as there are but three actions 
allowed to be Christian baptism ; and as the original words, both 
verbs and nouns, are translated immerse and immersion,, in all lexi- 
cons, and never, sprinkle or pour ; follows it not, then, that neither 
sprinkling nor pouring is Christian baptism? The question is not 
Tvhether these words are ever, like other words, used figuratively: 
wnether they may not meionymically mean, wetting or ivashing : 
for these may be the effects of either sprinkling, pouring, or dip- 
ping. The question is not, whether these words may be so used: 
but the question is, whether the action commanded in haptizo, be 
sprinkling, pouring, or immersing a person. All authorized Greek 
dictionaries, ancient and modern, with one consent, affirm that 
action to be immersion ; and not sprinkling or pouring. 

2. All Latin, English, German and French versions Avhich we 
have seen, and we believe on the testimony of others, all that we 
have not seen, sometimes translate these words, their derivatives, 
or compounds, by words equivalent to immersion: but on no occa- 
sion ever translate them by sprinkling, or pouring, or any word 
equivalent to these terms. This is an evidence of great moment: 
for if these versions have nineteen times in twenty been made by 
those who practise sprinkling or pouring in the name of the Lord ; 
and if these words occur about one hundred and twenty times in 
the New Testament, is it not very singular that never once have 
such translators rendered the words by sprinkling, or pouring? a 
decisive proof in our judgment that it could not be so translated. 
Indeed, a mere English scholar, who has only heard that baptism 
is a Greek word, may indubitably ascertain that it means neither 
sprinkling nor pouring, by substituting the definition for the term, 
and trying its sense in all places where the ordinance is spoken 
of. This is an infallible canon of interpretation. The proper Je- 
Jinition of a term substituted for it ivill always make as good sense 
as the term itself Now, if an English reader will try sprinkling 
or pouring in those places where he finds the word baptism, he 
will soon discover that neither of these words can possibly repre- 
sent it, if the above canon be true. For instance, we are told, 
that all Judea and Jerusalem went out to John and were baptized 
of him in the Jordan. Sprinkled them in the Jordan I poured 
them in the Jordan ! immersed them in the Jordan. Can any one 
doubt which of these truly represents the original in such pas- 
sages? I may sprinkle or pour water upon a person ; but to sprinkle 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 57 

or pour them into water is impossible. It is not said he baptized 
water upon them, but he baptized them in water, in the river. 

3. The ancient church, it is admitted on all hands, practised 
immersion. It did so, Roman, Greek and English historians 
being worthy of any credit. 

4. The places where baptism was anciently administered, being 
rivers, pools, baths, and places of much water, show that it waij 
not sprinkling or pouring. They went down into the water, and 
came up out of it, &c. And John baptized where there were 
many waters or much water. And even Paul and Silas went out 
of the Philippian jail to baptize the jailor at night, rather than 
send for a cup of water ! 

5. It is also alluded to and explained under the figure of a 
burial and resurrection, as relating to the death, burial, and resur- 
rection of Jesus, &c. Rom. vi. and Col. ii. 

From these topics many clear and conclusive arguments may 
be drawn, on which it is not now our business to dwell. If, in- 
deed, any one of these five ^.opics be correct, the action that 
Christ commands is forever decided. How much more, when 
they all concur in asserting the same interpretation ! There is, 
then, but one baptism, and not two, under the Christian adminis- 
tration. 

THE SUBJECT OF BAPTISM. 

IV. Characters, not persons, as such, are the subjects of baptism. 
Penitent helievers — not infants nor adults, not males nor females, 
not Jews nor Greeks ; but professors of repentance towards God, 
and faith in Christ — are the proper subjects of this ordinance. "To 
as many as received him, to them he granted privilege of becom- 
ing the sons of God, to them that believed on his name, which 
were born not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but 
of God.^^ *' He that believeth, and is baptized — not he that is 
baptized and believeth, shall be saved.'' " Many of the Corinth- 
ians hearing, believed and were baptized,'' not many of the Co- 
rinthians were baptized and then believed, and finally heard the 
Gospel! '* for without faith it is impossible to please God," &c. 

THE MEANING OF BAPTISM. 

V. " In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the 
wilderness of Judea, the baptism of repentance, for the remission 
3f sins." *' And Jesus said that repentance and remission of sins 



58 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

bould be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem/^ Therefore, Peter said to the penitent Pentecostians, 
*' Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, for the remission of sins/^ Again, ''As many of 
you as have been baptized or immersed into Christ, have put on 
Christ, have been immersed into his death ;'' *' have risen with 
him/' 

VI. Baptism is, then, designed to introduce the subjects of it 
into the participation of the blessings of the death and resurrec- 
tion of Christ; who *' died for our sins,^' and "rose again for our 
justification/' But it has no abstract efficacy. Without previous 
faith in the blood of Christ, and deep and unfeigned repentance 
before God, neither immersion in water, nor any other action, can 
secure to us the blessings of peace and pardon. It can merit 
nothing. Still to the believing penitent it is the means of receiv- 
ing a formal, distinct, and specific absolution, or release from 
guilt. Therefore, none but those who have first believed the 
testimony of God and have repented of their sins, and that have 
been intelligently immersed into his death, have the full and ex- 
plicit testimony of God, assuring them of pardon. To such only 
as are truly penitent, dare we say, "Arise and be baptized, and 
wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord,'' and to 
such only can we say with assurance, "You are washed, you are 
justified, you are sanctihed in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
the Spirit of God." But let the reader examine with care our 
special essay on the Remission of Sins, in which this much-de- 
bated subject is discussed at considerable length. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CHRISTIAN CONFESSION OF FAITH. 

I. The only apostolic and divine confession of faith which God, 
the Father of all, has laid for the church — and that on which Je- 
sus himself said he Avould build it, is the sublime and supreme 
proposition: That Jesus of Naz;areth is the Messiah, the 
Son of the living God. This is the peculiarity of the Christian 
system : its specific attribute. The antediluvian Abel, Enoch, &c. 
believed that a son of Eve would bruise Satan's head. Abraham, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 59 

Isaac, and Jacob believed that a peculiar son of theirs would b(i 
the child of blessings, the Son of promise to the human race. 
Indeed, Jesse, David, and all the prophets, looked for one from 
the sceptred tribe, who would be king of all the earth, and a 
benefactor of humanity. John the Baptist in his day preached 
and believed that the Messenger of the covenant of eternal peace 
was immediately to appear. But the disciples of Jesus, the son 
of Mary, believed and confessed that he was the identical person. 
'* We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and all the pro- 
phets did write : Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, the King 
of Israel.^' " Rabbi, ^' said Nathanael, " thou art the Son of God, 
thou art the King of Israel.^' But yet it remained for Peter to 
speak fully and expressly, the very proposition which contains the 
♦vhole matter. " We believe and are sure that thou art the Mes- 
siah, the Son of the living God.'^ *' On this rock,^^ responded 
he, with a blessing upon Peter's name and head ; '* on this rock 
[ will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail 
igainst it.^' Of this foundation, Paul has said, " Other foundation 
jan no man lay than that which is already laid, which is Jesus 
Jhrist.'^ God himself laid this corner, this tried and precious 
itone, as the foundation of the temple of grace ; and therefore 
A^ith his own lips pronounced him his beloved Son ; and sealed 
sim by the visible descent and impress of his Spirit, as his Mes- 
uah, the Messenger of life and peace to a condemned and rebel- 
uous world. 

II. This confession of faith has in it two distinct ideas — the 
)ne concerning the pei^sorif the other concerning the office^ of the 
Son of Man. The one asserts his divine relations, the other his 
official rank and glory. No one can intelligently believe this 
proposition, and not turn to God with all his heart : for there is in 
it a thousand thoughts and motives to bind the soul to God, and 
melt it into the most affectionate devotion. There is also in it 
the strongest bond to secure the affections of all Christians to one 
another. There is no other confession of faith on which the 
church can be built, on which it can possibly stand one and un- 
divided, but on this one. With the heart man believes this pro- 
position in order to justification ; and with his mouth he maketh 
this confession of it in order to his salvation. So Paul explains 
it, Rom. X.: and thus we have one Lord, one faith, and one bap- 
tism, among the immutable reasons why Christians should main- 
tain unity of spirit in the bonds of peace.* 

* Sea the Essay on the Foundation of Christian Union and Communion. 



60 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

CHAPTEE XVIIL 

CONVERSION, REGENERATION. 

I. The change which is consummated by immersion is some* 
times called in sacred style, ^^ being quickened^^^ or ^*made alive,*^ 
^'passing from death to life^^^ ^^ being born again,' ^ ^^ having risen 
tvith Christ,^' ^^ turning to the Lord,'' ^^ being enlightened,'" ^^convev" 
sion," ^'reconciliation," ^^ repentance unto life." These, like the 
words propitiation, atonement, reconciliation, expiation, redemp- 
tion, expressive of the various aspects which the death of Christ 
sustains, are expressive of the different relations in which this 
great change, sometimes called a " new creation,^' may be con- 
templated. The entire change effected in man by the Christian 
system, consists in four things: — a change of views; a change of 
affections; a change of state ; and a change of life. Now, in re- 
spect of each of these separately or in combination, it is called 
by different names. As a change of views, it is called "being 
enlightened;^' "Once you were darkness, now are you light in 
the Lord; walk as children of the light;'' "After that you were 
enlightened," &c. As a change of the affections, it is called "be- 
ing reconciled ;" thus, " for if when we were enemies we were re- 
conciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being recon- 
ciled Ave shall be saved through his life." As a change of state, 
it is called a "being quickened;" "passing from death to life," 
" being born again," " having risen with Christ;" "And you hath - 
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins ;" *' By this we 
know we have passed from death to life, because we love the 
brethren;" "Being born again, not of corruptible, but of incor- 
ruptible seed, by the word of God, Avhich liveth and abideth for- 
ever." "If you be," or " since you are risen with Christ, set your 
affections on things above, not on things on the earth." As a 
change of life it is called "repentance unto life," " turning to the 
Lord," "conversion;" "Then God has granted to the Gentiles re- 
pentance to life." "And all that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw 
Eneas and turned to the Lord" "Except 3'ou be converted, and 
becomiC as children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." 
" He that converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a 
soul from death and hide a multitude of sins." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 61 

II. Great confusion has been introduced into the Christian 
community by a confounding of these terms, making only one of 
them to mean all the others. Witness the controversy about 
regeneration; as if that word were used in sacred Scripture in 
reference to the entire change effected by the Christian system ; 
whereas, in strict propriety, it is never used by itself in the Bible 
to represent any part of this change, much less the whole of it. 
We have the phrase ^'washing of regeneration'^ once, in contra- 
distinction from the "renewal of the Holy Spirit,'^ (Titus iii. 5,) 
but never, by itself, as indicative of this fourfold change. But 
suppose it should be conceded that the term regeneration might 
be just equivalent to '^ being born again/' it could even then only 
represent so much of this change as respects mere state: for the 
figure of a new birth applies merely to admission into a family 
or nation, and not to the process of quickening or making alive 
of the person so admitted. It can, then, in strict propriety, only 
apply to the fourth part of that change which the gospel of salva- 
tion proposes and effects. Being boim again is, or may be, the 
effect of a change of views, of a change of affections, or it may 
be the cause of a change of life ; but certain it is, it is not iden- 
tical with any of them, and never can represent them all. 

III. But may it not include them all? It is impossible: for 
however we might extend the figure and suppose it to include its 
causes, it cannot also include its effects. If it should include a 
change of views, and a change of affections, and a change of 
state, it cannot include a change of life or of character. We 
ought, then, to use this word in its strict and scriptural accept- 
ance, if we would escape the great confusion now resting upon 
this subject. The sophistry or delusion of this confusion is, that 
making regeneration equivalent to the entire change, instead of to 
the one-fourth part of it, the community will be always imposed 
on and misled by seeking to find the attributes of conversion in 
the new birth, or of the new birth in conversion; and so of all the 
others. Being born again is not conversion, nor a change of views y 
nor a cliange of affections, but a change of state. True, indeed, 
that of the person who is born again we may suppose a change 
of views, a change of heart, and we may infer a change of cha- 
racter, and may therefore say he is enlightened, renewed in heart, 
converted as well as born again ; but this license respecting the 
person, the subject of the change, is not allowed in talking of the 
change itself. A Christian is. indeed, one whose views are en- 



62 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

lightened, whose heart is renewed, whose relations to God and 
the moral universe are changed, and whose manner of life is ac- 
cording to righteousness and true holiness. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CHRISTIANS ARE PERSONS PARDONED, JUSTIFIED, 
SANCTIFIED, ADOPTED, SAVED. 

I. While adjusting the most important terms and phrases in 
the Christian system, in order to a more perspicuous and com- 
prehensive intelligence of it, it is expedient that we should also 
advert to other predicates of the genuine Christian. The five 
terms at the head of this chapter are all indicative of his state ; 
and do not include any attributes of his character, 

II. These predicates are but so many counterpart aspects of a 
new state in reference to an old one ; or they represent the gospel 
as affecting the position of man in the universe in all those pointy 
in which sin affected him. Was he guilty, condemned, unholy, 
alien, and lost, in Adam the first? When in Adam the second, 
he is just in an opposite state ; — he is pardoned wherein he was 
guilty — justified wherein he was condemned — sanctified wherein 
he was unholy — adopted wherein he was alien — and saved where- 
in he was lost. Sin, then, condemns, pollutes, alienates, and de- 
stroys its subjects. Grace justifies, sanctifies, adopts, and saves 
its subjects in reference to these points. Pardon has respect to 
guilt ; justification, to condemnation ; sanctification, to pollution ; 
adoption, to alienation ; and salvation, to destruction. Those out 
of Christ are, then, in their sins, condemned, unholy, alien, and 
lost; while those in Christ are pardoned, justified, sanctified, 
adopted into the family of God, and saved. 

III. In former dispensations, and in the present, two things are 
immutable as respects the preparation for a change of state, while 
the act by which that change is formerly consummated is not 
necessarily immutable. Thus, in reference to actual transgres- 
sion, faith and repentance, in all dispensations of religion, were 
necessary to forgiveness, justification, sanctification, adoption, 
salvation. In one word, God cannot forgive an impenitent and 
unbelieving transgressor. But whether this or that act shall 
consummate a change of state, as respects man's relations to the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 63 

moral universe — whether that act shall be circumcision, animal 
sacrifice, baptism, confession, prayer, &c., is not from any neces- 
sity, either in the divine or human nature, immutable. It has 
been changed ; but faith in God's appointments, and repentance 
for past transgressions, are novr, always were, and evermore 
shall be, necessary to forgiveness. 

LY. The philosophy or reason of this is, that faith and repent'- 
ance change the state of man^s heart to God ; and if there was no 
universe beyond God and the sinner, all further acts respecting 
it would be uncalled-for. But as respects the condition of sinners 
in the universe, and their views, affections, relations, and manner 
of life, more than faith and repentance, or a change of views and 
feelings, is necessary to actual, and sensible, and formal pardon, 
justification, sanctification, adoption, and the salvation of the soul 
from sin. Hence came the ordinances of baptism, confession, . 
prayer, fasting, and intercession. 

V. It is wise and kind on the part of Heaven to ordain such 
acts or to institute such ordinances as will assure ourselves and 
others of our new relations ; and to suspend our enjoyment of the 
favor and love of God, not merely upon faith and penitence, or 
any other mental operation, but upon certain clear overt acts, 
such as baptism, confession, prayer, &c., which affect ourselves 
and others much more than they possibly can affect God himself, 
being the fruit of our faith, or perhaps, rather, only the perfect- 
ing of our faith in the promises of God. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

I. Having spoken of three things which God has done for us^ 
and of three things which we must do for ourselves, we are now 
come to the proper place to consider other aids which our hea- 
venly Father tenders to us, just at this point. "He has provided 
a Lamb for a sin-offering,^' and ''Jesus has full atonement made/^ 
He has also given to us ''the light of life'' — the words of Jesus 
faithfully written out ; and he has invested him as the Son of Man, 
with all authority, celestial and terrestrial, that he may lead many 
eons to glory, and give eternal life to all that are given him. 

II. We also have believed all this, repented of our sins, and 



64 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

been immersed into Christ. We have assumed him as our Leader, 
our Prophet, Priest, and King; and put ourselves under his 
guidance. Having disowned the great apostate and his ranks, 
and enlisted under the Messiah, and taken sides with the Lord's 
Anointed, he now proposes to put his Holy Spirit within us, to 
furnish us for the good fight of faith, and to anoint us as the sons 
and heirs of God. 

III. Some will ask, Has not this gift been conferred on us to 
make us Christians ? True, indeed, no man can say that Jesus 
is Lord but by the Holy Spirit. As observed in its proper place, 
the Spirit of God is the perfecter and finisher of all divine works. 
**The Spirit of God moved upon the waters ;'' **The hand of the 
Lord has made me, the Spirit of the Almighty has given me life ;'' 
*'By his Spirit he has garnished the heavens, his hand has formed 
the crooked serpent,^' — the milky way ; " The Spirit descended 
apon him ;'^ " God himself bore the Apostle witness, by divers 
miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will ;'' 
"Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit;" 
"When the Spirit of truth, the Advocate, is come, he will convict 
the world of sin, because they believe not on me, and of justifica- 
tion, because I go to my Father;'^ "God was manifest in the flesh 
and justified by the Spirit.'' 

IV. The Spirit of God inspired all the spiritual ideas in the 
New Testament, and confirmed them by miracles ; and he is ever 
present with the word that he inspired. He descended from hea- 
ven on the da}^ of Pentecost, and has not formally ascended since. 
In the sense in which he descended he certainly has not ascended; 
for he is to animate and inspire with new life the church or tem- 
ple of the Lord. " Know you not," you Christians, " that your 
bodies are temples of the living God ?" " The temple of God is 
holy, which t-emple you are ;" " If the Spirit of him that raised 
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, God shall quicken your 
mortal bodies by Ms Spirit that dwelleth in you/' &o. 

V. Now we cannot separate the Spirit and word of God, and 
ascribe so much power to the one and so much to the other ; for 
so did not the Apostles. Whatever the word does, the Spirit does; 
and whatever the Spirit does in the work of converting men, the 
word does. We neither believe nor teach abstract Spirit nor ab- 
stract word, but Avord and Spirit, Spirit and word. 

YI. But the Spirit is not promised to any persons out of Christ. 
It is promised only to them that believe in and obey him. These 



THE CIIIITSTIAN SYSTEM. 65 

it actually and powerfully assists in the mighty struggle for eter- 
nal life. Some, indeed, ask, "Do Christians need more aid to gain 
eternal life than sinners do to become Christians? Is not the 
work of conversion a more difficult work than the work of sanc- 
tification?^' Hence, they contend more for the work of the Spirit 
in conversion, than for the work of the Spirit in sanctification. 
This, indeed, is a mistaken view of the matter, if w^e reason 
either from analogy or from divine testimony. Is it not more easy 
to plant than to cultivate the corn, the vine, the olive ? Is it not 
more easy to enlist in the army, than to be a good soldier, and 
fight the battles of the Lord ; to start in the race, than to reach 
the goal ; to enter the ship, than cross the ocean ; to be naturalized, 
than to become a good citizen ; to enter into the matrimonial com- 
pact, than to be an exemplary husband ; to enter into life, than to 
retain and sustain it for threescore years and ten ? And while 
the commands, ^^ believe,^ ^ ^^ repent J ^ and *' &e baptized/' are never 
accompanied with any intimation of peculiar difficulty ; the com- 
mands to the use of the means of spiritual health and life ; to 
form the Christian character ; to attain to the resurrection of the 
just ; to lay hold on eternal life ; to make our calling and election 
sure, &c., are accompanied with such exhortations, admonitions, 
cautions, as to make it a difficult and critical affair, requiring all 
the aids of the Spirit of our God, to all the means of grace and 
untiring assiduity and perseverance on our part ; for it seems, *'the 
called,^' who enter the stadium are many, while **the chosen'^ 
and approved "are few ;^' and man^^, says Jesus, "shall seek to 
enter into the heavenly city, and shall not be able ;" *' Let us labor, 
therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same 
example of unbelief.^^ 

VII. Sanctification, in one point of view, is unquestionably a 
progressive work. To sanctify is to set apart ; this may be done 
in a moment, and so far as mere state ov relation is concerned, it is 
as instantaneous as baptism. But there is the formation of a holy 
character: for there is a holy character as well as a holy state. 
The formation of such a character is the work of means ; " Holy 
Father,^' said Jesus, "sanctify them [my disciples] through the 
truth, thy word is the truth f' " And the very God of peace sanc- 
tify you wholly,^' says Paul to the Thessalonians, " and I pray 
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless 
to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Christians, then, are 
to " follow peace with all men, and sanctification, without which 
- . . . ■ ■ -6* ' - ' ^ 



66 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

no one shall see the Lord/' Therefore, it is the duty and the 
work of Christians, " to perfect holiness in the fear of the 
Lord/' 

VIII. This requires aid. Hence, assistance is to be prayed for ,• 
and it is promised. Now as the Spirit of God, under the adminis- 
tration of Christ, is the author of all holiness in us — he is called 
the *' Holy Spirit,'' " the Spirit of holiness." Hence, while we 
have the phrase *'Holy Ghost" or Spirit, ninety-four times in the 
Christian Scriptures, it is found only three times in all the Jew- 
ish writings. The Holy Spirit is, then, the author of all our 
holiness ; and in the struggle after victory over sin and tempta- 
tion, ^^it helps our injirmities/' and comforts us by seasonably 
bringing to our remembrance the promises of Christ, and 
"strengthens us with all might, in the new or inner man." And 
thus "God works in us to will and to do of his own benevolence," 
"while we are working out our own salvation with fear and 
trembling." Christians are, therefore, clearly and unequivocally 
temples of the Holy Spirit ; and they are quickened, animated, 
encouraged, and sanctified by the power and influence of the 
Spirit of God, working in them through the truth. 

IX. God "gives his Holy Spirit to them who ask him," ac- 
cording to his revealed will ; and without this gift no one could 
be saved or ultimately triumph over all opposition. He knows 
but little of the deceitfulness of sin, or of the combating of 
temptation, who thinks himself competent to wrestle against the 
allied forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Hence, the 
necessity of " supplications, deprecations, intercessions and 
thanksgivings," of praying always with all prayer and supplica- 
tion in the Holy Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseve- 
rance, and of making supplication for all saints, our fellow-soldiers 
in this good warfiire. 

X. To those, then, who believe, repent, and obey the gospel, 
he actually communicates of his Good Spirit. The fruits of that 
spirit in them are "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance." The attributes of 
character which distinguish the new man are each of them com- 
munications of the Holy Spirit, and thus are we the sons of God 
in fact, as well as in title, under the dispensation of the Holy 
Spirit. 

XI. We have, then, every thing done for us, after our conver- 
sion, which we need in order to that "holiness without which no 
one shall see the Lord." Thus God has provided for us a sin- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 67 

Dtfering ; a prophet to expound it ; a priest to present it ; a king, 
with universal dominion, to govern and protect all that by it are 
reconciled to God. And when through faith, repentance, and 
baptism, w^e have assumed him as our rightful vSovereign, by his 
Holy Spirit, in answer to our prayers, he works in us, and by 
us, and for us, all that is needful to our present, spiritual, and 
eternal salvation. 



CHAPTER XXL 

THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 



I. ^'Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it does not yet 
appear what w^e shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, 
we shall be like him — that we shall see him as he is. And every 
one that has this hope in him, purifies himself even as he is pure.^' 
*'God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his 
Son.'' " I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.'' *'He 
hath begotten us again to a lively hope ; to an inheritance incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." So testify three 
Apostles — John, Paul, and Peter. The whole hope of the Chris- 
tian may, indeed, be summed up in one sentence: "If children, 
then lieirs — heirs of God, joint heirs with christ." Immortality, 
eternal life, the riches of Christ, the glory, honor, wealth, and 
bliss of God^s only-begotten Son are to be equally participated 
with all his saints. 

II. The remedial system is, therefore, a moral creation in pro- 
gress — a new creation of men unto good works, still advancing ; 
but its termination wnll be the stereotyping of individual moral 
excellence by an instantaneous physical new creation of men at 
the resurrection of the just: or a manifestation of the sons of God 
in full redemption from the whole entail of sin ; raised, refined, 
immortalized, glorified, and invested with eternal life. 

III. Hope differs from faith, in that it looks only forward to 
future objects. It looks not back, nor does it contemplate the 
present: "for," says Paul, " what a man sees, why does he yet 
hope for?" Nor looks it on all the future ; but only on future 
good. It desires and expects good and nothing else. There is 
not one dark cloud, not one dark speck, in all the heavens of 



68 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Christian hope. Every thing seen in its wide dominions, in the 
unbounded prospect yet before us, is bright, cheering, animating, 
transporting. It is all desirable and desired. It is all expected. 
It is all '* earnest expectation ;^^ not a doubtful, but a "confident 
expectation of things'^ desirable, and to be '* hoped for.^^ 

IV. It is not what some in this age call ^Hlie hope,^^ i.e. the 
desirable expectancy of pardon of their past transgressions ; for 
none but those who are now actually pardoned are the subjects of 
this hope. " If our heart condemn us, then, indeed, we have no 
confidence ;^^ so no confident expectation, no hope of eternal life. 
The mere possibility of an event is no foundation of hope. Hope 
deals not in possibilities, nor indeed much in probabilities — unless 
they are very strong probabilities. Conjectures, peradventures, 
possibilities, probabilities, are not of the essence of Christian 
hope. It rests on covenants, charters, promises, oaths, tendered 
by the Eternal Source of almighty truth and love. These are 
good securities ; and produce assurance. Hence hope is the as- 
surance of future good in expectation. 

y. There are, indeed, various degrees of hope ; but in the least 
degree of it there is desire combined with expectation. Things 
expected are not always desirable, nor are things desirable always 
to be expected : but hope embraces promises that are desirable, 
and also expects the enjoyment of them. Hence, hope, like faith 
and love, may grow exceedingly. When based on the promises 
of God, and on the habitual patient conformity to his will, it will 
keep pace with our growing intelligence of the character of God; 
of the fulness and richness of the promises, and in the persuasion 
of our actual devotion to the manifestations of that will. 

yi. But tlie tilings hoped for by the Christian are beyond de- 
scription. Eye, indeed, has not seen, ear has not heard, the hu- 
man heart has not conceived the glories of the resurrection of the 
just; — the new bodies, the new heavens, the new earth, the new 
Jerusalem, the new society, the new pleasures : for according to 
his promise we look for (expect) new heavens and new earth in 
which righteous persons alone shall dwell. Thus terminates the 
remedial system on all its happy subjects. " It lifts the beggar 
from the dust, and the wretched from the dunghill, and sets them 
among princes, amongst the nobles of the universe ;'' the thrones, 
hierarchies, and lordships of the skies ; in the presence of God, 
too, "where there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand, where' 
there are pleasures for evermore.^' Such are the things to be 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 69 

done for those, for whom such things have already been done aa 
constitute the remedial system : for with Paul we must say : "He 
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death 
for us all ; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things V 
"All things arc yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or 
the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, 
all are yours ; and you arc Christ's, and Christ is God's/' 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE DOOM OF THE WICKED. 



r. There are two classes of men in this world. They are often 
and in various manners contradistinguished from each other. 
They are called the righteous and the wicked, the saints and the 
sinners, the holy and the unholy, the good and the bad, he that 
feareth God, and he that feareth him not. Of the one class many 
things are predicated which are not predicated of the other. Of 
the one it is said, that they are " in Christ,^' justified, sanctified, 
saved, children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, an 
elect race, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people. Of the other 
class, these things are never predicated in the Bible. They are 
not in Christ, not justified, not sanctified, not saved ; children of 
the devil, " children of wrath,'' not an elect race, not a royal 
priesthood, not a peculiar people. 

II. These have not been reconciled to God through the pro- 
pitiation of his Son. They are still enemies of God in heart. 
And for them that loved darkness rather than light, and would 
not have God's Son to be their Saviour, he has appointed a day 
of judgment; a day for the ultimate perdition of ungodly men. 
Then they shall perish "with an everlasting destruction from the 
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he 
shall come to be glorified in all his saints, and to be admired by 
all the believers." Then will the King say to them on his left 
hand, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the 
devil and his angels." They are the allies of Satan in his rebel- 
lion against God, and have spent all their energies and fortunes 
on his side of the question ; and therefore it is reasonable that 
they should harve their ultimate portion with him. 



70 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

III. Of this judgment, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, pio 
phesied, saying, ''Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of 
his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that 
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they 
have ungodlily committed, and of all their hard speeches which 
ungodly sinners have spoken against him.^^ God had, then, long 
before the Christian era — from the foundation of the world, " ap" 
•pointed a day in which he will judge the world (the whole 
world) righteously by Jesus Christ,^' whom he has constituted 
Judge of all the dead as well as of all the living. 

IV. "It is, indeed, appointed to men once to die, and after this 
the judgment.^' The judgment consequent upon death is not the 
general but the particular judgment of individuals, as the phrase 
would seem to indicate, whose spirits returning to God are judged 
and instantly rewarded, so far as in a separate state they can be 
the subjects of reward or punishment. But the ^^ judgment of the 
great day^^ is for another purpose : not, as some profanely say, 
" to bring men out of heaven and hell to judge and remand them 
back again ;^^ but in the presence of an assembled world to vin- 
dicate the administrations of the moral government and providence 
of God, to develop the real characters of angels and of men, 
and to pronounce an irrevocable sentence upon all according to 
their works. For, says Paul, '' we must all appear before the 
tribunal of Christ, that every one may receive, in Ms body, the 
things he has done, whether good or bad.^^ It is, then, because 
of the actual and public pronunciation and execution of this 
judgment, that the last day is called " the day of judgment,^' 
and that the judgment itself is called " the judGxAjent of the 

GREAT DAY/^ 

Y. This final judgment and ^' pei'dition of ungodly men^^ is set 
forth by the Lord himself, as well as by his apostles, in the clear- 
est and strongest terms, and in the boldest and most appalling 
imagery which human speech and human knowledge can afford. 
Indeed, to place this awfully sublime and glorious day in full 
array before the perceptive powers of man, is impossible. The 
best efforts have exhausted the powers of nature in all her wonted 
energies. John, in his sublime visions of the last acts of the 
great drama of human existence, says, " I saw a great white throne, 
and him that sat on it, from whose face earth and heaven fled 
away, and there Avas found no room for them. And I saw the dead, 
small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened : 
and another book was opened, which is called the Book of Life ; 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 71 

and the dead were judged out of the things that were written in 
those books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the 
dead which were in it, and death and the grave^ gave up the dead 
which were in them ; and they were judged every one according 
to his works: and death and the grave were cast into the lake of 
fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found 
written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.^^ Surely, 
** it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'' 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

SUMMARY VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM OF FACTS. 

I. God alone is self-existent and eternal. Before earth and 
time were born he operated by his Word and his Spirit. God, 
THE Word of God, and the Spirit of God, participants of one 
and the same nature, are the foundations of Nature, Providence, 
and Redemption, In Nature and Provideyice, it is God, the Word, 
and the Spirit. In Gh^ace, it is the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit. All creations, providences, and remedial arrange- 
ments display to us the co-operation of three divine partici- 
pants, of one self-existent, independent, incommunicable nature. 
These are fundamental conceptions of all the revelations and de- 
velopments of the Divinity, and necessary to all rational and 
sanctifying views of religion. 

II. In the Laio and in the Gospel these sacred and mysterious 
relations and personal manifestations of God are presupposed and 
assumed as the basis of the whole procedure. *' God created all 
things by Jesus Christ, and for him.^^ *'The Word was in the 
beginning with God,'^ " before all things,^' and " by him all things 
consist/^ " God created man upright. '' Man sinned: all became 
mortal: our nature became susceptible of evil. It is in this re- 
spect fallen and depraved. *' There is none righteous — no, not 
one.^' God the Father has chosen men in Christ to salvation 
" through the sanctincation of the Spirit unto obedience, and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus; and " promised, ^^ to such, 
*' eternal life before the foundation of the world. '^ 

III. Therefore, in "the fulness of time'^ — ''mdue time, God 
Bent forth his Son, made of a woman'' — for " the Word became 

* Hades. 



72 THE CHRISTIx\N SYSTEM. 

flesh, and dwelt among us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as 
of an onlj-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.'' *'He 
showed us the Father/' He died as a sin-offering — was buried, 
rose again the third day — ascended to heaven — presented his offer- 
ing in the true Holy Place — made expiation for our sins — ^'forever 
sat down on the right hand of the Supreme Majesty in the 
heavens" — sent down his Holy Spirit — inspired his Apostles, who 
*' preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven" — per 
suaded many Jews and Gentiles that he was made ** the author of 
an eternal salvation to all who obeyed him." He commanded 
faith, repentance, and baptism to be preached in his name for 
remission of sins to every nation and people under heaven. 

IV. All who *' believe in him are justified from all things ;" be^ 
cause this faith is living, active, operative, and perfected by 
*' obeying from the heart that mould of doctrine delivered to us." 
Hence such persons repent of their sins, and obey the gospel. 
They receive the Spirit of God, and the promise of eternal life — 
walk in the Spirit, and are sanctified to God, and constituted 
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. They shall be raised 
from the dead incorruptible, immortal, and shall live forever with 
the Lord; while those "who know not God, and obey not the 
gospel of his Son, shall perish with an everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE BODY OF CHRIST. 



I. That institution which separates from the world, and con- 
sociates the people of God into a peculiar community ; having 
laws, ordinances, manners and customs of its own, immediately 
derived from the Saviour of the world, is called the congregation 
01 cliurch of the Lord. This is sometimes technically called the 
mystical body of Christ, contradistinguished from his literal and 
natural body. Over tliis spiritual body he is the Head, the King, 
Lord, and Lawgiver, and they are severally members of his body, 
and under his direction and government. 

II. The true Christian church, or house of God, is composed 
of all those in every place that do publicly acknowledge Jesus of 
Nazareth as the true Messiah, and the only Saviour of men ; and, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 73 

building themselves upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
Prophets, associate under the constitution which he himself has 
granted and authorized in the New Testament, and are walking 
m his ordinances and commandments — and of none else. 

III. This institution, called the congregation of God, is a great 
community of communities — not a community representative of 
communities, but a community composed of many particular 
communities, each of which is built upon the same foundation, 
walks according to the same rules, enjoys the same charter, and 
is under the jurisdiction of no other community of Christians, 
but is to all other communities as an individual disciple is to 
every other individual disciple in any one particular community 
meeting in any given place. 

lY. Still, all these particular congregations of the Lord, 
whether at Rome, Corinth, or Ephesus, though equally independ- 
ent of one another as to the management of their own peculiar 
affairs, are, by virtue of one common Lord, one faith, one bap- 
tism, and one common salvation, but one kingdom or church of 
God, and, as such, are under obligations to co-operate with one 
another in all measures promotive of the great ends of Christ^s 
death and resurrection. 

V. But, in order to this holy communion and co-operation of 
churches, it is indispensable that they have an intimate and ap- 
proving knowledge of one another, which can only be had and 
enjoyed in the form of districts. Thus the *' congregations in 
Judca^' intimately knew one another, and co-operated. Those 
in Galatia also knew one another and co-operated. And while 
some of the churches or brethren in each district, being mutually 
acquainted with some in another, made the churches of both dis- 
tricts acquainted with one another, they were enabled to co-ope- 
rate to the ends of the earth. 

VI. These districts are a part of the circumstances of Christ's 
kingdom, as well as the manner of maintaining correspondence 
and co-operation among them, and the occnsions and incidents 
requiring concert and conjoint action. For these, as well as for 
the circumstances of any particular community, the Apostles 
gave no specific directions. It was, indeed, impossible they 
could ; for, as the circumstances of particular communities, and 
of the whole church, vary at different times and places, no one 
set of particular, sectional, or intersectional regulations could 
suit all these peculiarities and emergencies. These, then, are 
necessarily left to the wisdom and discretion of the whole com 

T 



74 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

munity, as the peculiar exigencies and mutations of society may 
require. 

VII. But in granting to the communities of the saints this ne- 
cessary license of deciding what is expedient, orderly, decent, 
and of public and practical utility in the circumstantials of 
Christianity, no allowance is implied authorizing any interfer- 
ence with a single item of the Christian institution. Hence the 
necessity of a very clear discrimination, not between *'the essen- 
tials and the non-essentials,'^ for in Divine Christianity there are 
no non-essentials, but between the family of God and its circum- 
stances — between the Christian institution and its accidents. 
Certain it is that there is a very manifest dijfference between any 
individual man, family, community, or institution, and its cir- 
cumstances. What is more evident than the difference between 
a man and his apparel, his house, his neighborhood, his associa- 
tions and connections ? 

YIII. The Christian institution has its facts, its precepts, its 
promises, its ordinances, and their meaning or doctrine. These 
are not matters of policy, of arrangement, of expediency, but of 
divine and immutable ordination and continuance. Hence the 
faith, the worship, and the righteousness ; or the doctrine, the 
piety, and the morality of the gospel institution are not legitimate 
subjects of human legislation, alteration, or arrangement. No 
man nor community can touch these and be innocent. These rest 
upon the wisdom and authority of Jehovah ; and he that meddles 
with these presumes to do that which the cherubim and seraphim 
dare not. Whatever, then, is a part of the Christian faith or the 
Christian hope — whatever constitutes ordinances or precepts of 
worship, or statutes of moral right and wrong, like the ark of the 
covenant, is not to be touched with uninspired and uncommis- 
sioned hands. 

IX. But v^hether we shall register the churches in a given dis- 
trict, or the members in a particular church; whether we shall 
meet oftener than once on the Lord's day, or at what hour, and in 
what sort of a house ; whether we shall commemorate the Lord's 
death forenoon or afternoon, before day or after night ; whether 
we shall sit round one board, or in our respective pews ; whether 
we shall sing from book or from memory, prose or verse, &c. &c., 
are matters in which our conceptions of expediency, decency, and 
good order may have free scope. Also whether the churches in 
a given district shall, by letter, messengers, or stated meetings, 
once or twice per annum, or oftener, communicate with one an 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 75 

other; whether they shall send one, two, or twenty persons, or al) 
go and communicate face to (ace, or send a letter; and whether 
they shall annually print, write, or publish their statistics, &c. 
&G. &c., are the mere circumstantials of the Christian insti- 
tution. 

X. But co-operation itself is one thing, and the manner of co- 
operation another. Co-operation, as much as the interconmiunion 
of Christians, is a part of the Christian institution. We must 
**6-trive together in our prayers'^ for one another, and for the sal- 
vation of men; and this, if there were no scriptural example nor 
precept on the subject, is enough. To pray for one another as 
individuals or communities implies that we shall assist one 
a.nother in every way for which we pray for one another; other- 
wise our prayers and thanksgivings for each other are mere hy- 
pocrisy. He that would pray fur the progress of the truth at 
home and abroad, having it in his power to contribute a single 
dollar to that end, and yet withholds it, shows how little value he 
sets upon his own prayers, and how much upon his money. 

XI. From the days of the Apostles till now co-operative asso- 
ciations of churches have uniformly followed the political distri- 
butions of the earth. Those in *'Judea, Galatia, Achaia, Pontus, 
Cappadocia, Macedonia, Asia, Bythinia,^' &c. &c. are designa- 
tions of churches and brethren familiar to all New Testament 
readers. This is a matter of convenience, rather than of neces- 
sity; just as the churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Ken- 
tucky, &c. can generally more conveniently and successfully co- 
operate by states and territories, than by any other divisions or 
precincts. I say, this is matter of convenience, rather than of 
necessity. It is of necessity that we co-operate, but of conveni- 
ence that the churches in one county, state, or nation, form regu- 
lar ways and means for co-operation. 

XII. The necessity of co-operation is felt everywhere and in all 
associations of men. It is a part of the economy of Heaven. 
What are mountains, but grains of sand ! What are oceans, but 
drops of water! And what the mightiest and most triumphant 
armies, but collections of individual men ! How much more good 
or ill can be done by co-operation than by individual enterprise, 
the history of the world, both civil and ecclesiastic, does little 
more than detail. One hundred churches, well disciplined, act- 
ing in concert, with Christian zeal, piety, humanity — frequently 
meeting together in committees of ways and means for building 
up Zion, for fencing in the deserts, cultivating the enclosed fields, 



76 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

watering the dry and barren spots, striving together mightily in 
prayer, in preaching the word, in contributing to the necessities 
of the saints, in enlightening the ignorant, and in devising all 
practicable ways of doing good — w^ould, in a given period, d(j 
more than twice the same number acting in their individual 
capacity, without concert, without co-operation, and that united 
energy always the effect of intelligent and cordial combination. 

XIII. But, in order to this, Christians must regard the church, 
or body of Christ, as one community, though composed of many 
small communities, each of .which is an organized member of this 
great national organization ; which, under Christ, as the supreme 
and sole Head, King, Lord, and Lawgiver, has the conquest of 
the whole world in its prayers, aims, plans, and efforts. Hence 
there must be such an understanding and agreement between 
these particular congregations as will suffice to a recognition and 
approval of their several acts : so that the members or the mea- 
sures of one community shall be treated with the respect due to 
them at home, in whatever community they may happen to be 
presented. On this principle only can any number of independ- 
ent and distinct communities of any sort — political, commercial, 
literary, moral, or religious — act in concert with mutual ad 
vantage to themselves, and with a proper reference to the general 
good. 

XIV. Any one who seeks apostolic sanctions for these views 
of co-operation will find ample authority in the Acts and Epistles 
of the Apostles. Paul addresses '^all the saints in Rome^^ in his 
Epistle to the Romans. Now in Rome there were sundry churches, 
as appears from chap. xvi. 5, 10, 11, 14, 15. These all he ad- 
dresses as one single community. Again he represents " all the 
churches of the Gentiles'' as uniting in thanks to Priscilla and 
Aquila, chap. xvi. 4. lie also represents "the churches of Christ*' 
as uniting in salutations by him to the Romans, ver. 16. In his 
letters to the Corinthians he addresses the church of Corinth, 
''*A11 the saints which are in all Achaia,'* and "all them in every 
place who call upon the name of Jesus Christ.*' 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 
2 Cor. i. 1. These he exhorts to " be perfectly joined together in 
the same mind and in the same judgments.** 1 Cor. i. 10. " The 
churches in Asia united in their salutations to the Corinthians," 
chap. xvi. 19. He speaks in the 2d Epistle of all the churches 
in Achaia, as "helping together in prayer for him'* and his com 
panions, and of their helping him on his w\ay in the w^ork of the 
Lord. In the eighth chapter he informs them of the grace of God 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 77 

bestowed on " all the churches in Macedonia/' evinced by the 
liberality of their united contributions for the saints, lie also 
speaks of an equality in the mutual contributions of churches in 
one co-operation — and of a brother chosen by sundry communities 
to travel with the Apostles, viii. 14, 18. 19 : and of his accompar 
nying brethren as '* messengers of the churches.'' The whole 
ninth chapter of this epistle speaks of the co-operation of the 
churches in public contributions for common objects. Paul, and 
all the brethren with him, unite in an epistle to "all the churches 
in Galatia." These he commands to " bear one another's bur- 
dens, and thus to fulfil the law of Christ." But, indeed, all the 
catholic epistles are unequivocal proofs that co-operation is of the 
very essence of the Christian institution. Such are some of Paul's 
epistles, both the epistles of Peter, the 1st of John, and that of 
James and Jude. The very basis of such general or universal 
letters is the fact, that all the communities of Christ constitute 
but one body, and are individually and mutually bound to co- 
operate in all things pertaining to a common solvation. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 



I. ''He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, 
some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the 
ivork of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till 
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ," &c. For the setting up of the Christian institution offi- 
cers extraordinary were needed. So was it in the Jewish, and sc 
is it in every institution human and divine. But when an insti- 
tution is set up, it only requires an ordinary ministry or adminis- 
tration of its affjiirs. All the extraordinary gifts vouchsafed to 
Moses, and to the Apostles and Prophets of the gospel institu- 
tion, ceased when these institutions were fully developed and 
established. Still a regular and constant ministry was needed 
among the Jews, and is yet needed among the Christians; and 
both of these by divine authority. 

II. Natural gifts for a natural state of things, and supernatural 
gifts for a supernatural state of things, are, in the wisdom of both 



<8 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

God and man, apposite and needful. Hence, even in the apos 
folic age, there were officers without, as well as with, miraculous 
endowments. "Ilavino:, then, gifts differing according to the 
office or grace that is given to us — if prophecy, let us prophesy 
according to the measure of our faith ; or ministrj^ let us attend 
on our ministering; he that teacheth, on teaching; he that ex- 
horteth, on exhortation; he that distributeth, with simplicity: he 
that ruleth, with diligence.'' God has therefore conferred various 
gifts on the church for the effectual administration of its aflairs. 
He has placed in it ^' helps and governments,^^ as well as Apostles 
and Prophets. 

III. The standing and immutable ministry of the Christian 
community is composed of Bishops, Deacons, and Evangelists. 
Of each of these there is but one order, though possessing great 
diversities of gifts. There have been bishops, deacons, and evan- 
gelists, with both ordinary and extraordinary gifts. Still the office 
is now, and ever was, the same. In ancient times official and 
unofficial persons sometimes possessed miraculous gifts. Those 
in high office were also generally of those most eminently gifted 
with extraordinary powers. Superficial readers have, therefore, 
sometimes concluded that, inasmuch as bishops, deacons, and 
especially evangelists, frequently possessed these manifestations 
of the Holy Spirit, with the ceasing of those gifts the offices 
themselves also expired. This is a great mistake. Officers there 
must be while there are offices, or services to be performed. So 
long as the human system needs sight, hearing, and feeling, 
there will be eyes, ears, and hands. So long, also, as the Chris- 
tian body is an organized body, having many services to perform, 
it must have organs or officers by which to enjoy itself and ope- 
rate on society. V\ ^ .- ! , ,^. ^'^fU^^^^ . 

ly. There are, indeed, necessarily as many offices in every 
body as there are services to be performed to it, or by it. This I'n 
the root and reason of all the offices in all the universe of God. 
Our planet needs diverse celestial services to be performed to it. 
Hence the sun, moon, and stars are celestial officers ministering 
to it. The eye, the ear, the tongue, the hand, the foot, are, for 
the same reason, officers in the human body, essentially serving 
it in its vital interests and enjoyments; and by means of these 
organs it performs important functions to other bodies. 

V. Experience, as well as observation, has taught us that 
"practice makes perfect," and that "whatever is every person's 
business is no person's business." Hence arose the custom among 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 79 

men of communicating certain offices to particular individuals 
The philosophy of such elections and ordinations is found ic 
the fact, that special services are best performed by special 
organs or agents, whose special province and duty it is to attend 
to them. 

VI. As the Christian system is a perfect system, it wisely pro- 
vides for its own perpetuity and prosperity by creating all ne- 
CBSsa.'y offices and filling them with suitable persons. We have 
said these offices are three, and of perpetual because of necessary 
existence. Bishops, whose office it is to preside over, to instruct, 
and to edify the community — to feed the church of the Lord wdth 
knowledge and understanding — and to watch for their souls as 
those that must give account to the Lord at his appearing and his 
kingdom, compose the first class. Deacons, or servants — whether 
called treasurers, almoners, stewards, door-keepers, or messen- 
gers — constitute the second. For the term deacon originally in- 
cluded all public servants whatever, though now most commonly 
confined to one or two classes; and improperly, no doubt, to those 
only who attend to the mere temporal interests of the community. 
They are distinguished persons, called and commissioned by the 
church (and consequently are always responsible to it) to serve 
in any of thes^ capacities. Evangelists, however, though a class 
of public functionaries created by the church, do not serve it di- 
rectly ; but are by it sent out into the world, and constitute the » 
third class of functionaries belonging to the Christian system. J^iVL- 

^^11. As there is more scrupulosity on some minds concerning 
the third class of Evangelists than concerning either Bishops or 
Deacons, we shall take occasion to speak more explicitly and 
full3^upon the nature and necessity, as well as upon the authority 
of this office. Evangelists, as the term indicates, are persons 
devoted to the preaching of the word, to the making of converts, 
and the planting of churches. It is, indeed, found but three times 
in the New Covenant; but the verb from which it comes — viz.: to 
evangelize — is in some of its branches found almost sixty times in 
that volume. " To evangelize^' and " to do the work of an evan- 
gelist'^ are phrases of equal import, and indicate the same duties, 
rights, and privileges. 

YIII. Among the offices which were comprehended in the 
apostleship, none required more varied endowments than that of 
the Evangelist. The gift of tongues was amongst the qualifica- 
tions necessary to those who, after the ascension, first undertook 
this work. But the qualifications for this office, so far as the gift 



80 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of tongues or the knowledge of language is concerned, are not 
immutably fixed. It depends upon the field of labor which the 
Evangelist is to occupy, whether he must speak one language or 
more. His work is to proclaim the word intelligibly and per- 
suasively — to immerse all the believers, or converts of his minis- 
try — and to plant and organize churches wherever he ma}^ have 
occasion ; and then teach them to keep the commandments and 
i>rdinances of the Lord. 

IX. Take, for example, the sketch given us by Luke of the 
labors of Philip the Evangelist, one of the first who wore that 
designation. One of the seven ministers of the Jerusalem church, 
after his diaconate was vacated by the dispersion of that commu- 
nity, commenced his evangelical labors. He turned his face 
towards Samaria, and preached and baptized among the Samari- 
tans : for, we are told, when the Samaritans believed Philip 
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the 
Lord Jesus, they were baptized, both men and women. He also 
converted the Ethiopian eunuch ; and then, passing from Azotus, 
he " preached in all the cities till he came to Cesarea,^^ where he 
afterwards resided. The next notice we have of him is found 
Acts xxi. 8. "We,'^ says Luke, ''who were of Paul's company, 
departed, and came into Cesarea, and entered into the house of 
Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven, and abode with him. 
He had four virgin daughters that did prophes3^^^ Evident, then, 
it is that he obtained the, title of Evangelist from his. itinerant 
labors in the gospel and in the converting of men. His posses- 
sion of the gift of the Holy Spirit was no more peculiar to him 
as an evangelist than as deacon of the church in Jerusalem ; for 
while in the diaconate of that church he seems to have been as 
full of the Holy Spirit as when visiting all the cities from Azotu& 
to Cesarea. 

X. Convening converts into societies, and organizing them intc 
worshipping assemblies, are inseparably connected with the right 
of converting men. Casually, in his letters to Timothy, Paul 
seems to define the work of an Evangelist. He says, " Preach 
the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, 
exhort with all long-suffering and teaching ; endure affliction ; do 
the work of an Evangelist ; fulfil thy ministry.'^ "Let no man 
des];)ise thy youth. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to 
exhortation, to teaching. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, [or 
cultivate and exercise the office conferred upon thee,] according 
to prophecy — by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery foi 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 81 

eldership.] Meditate upon these things ; give thyself -wholly 
to them, that thy profiting may appear to all: take heed to thyself 
and to thy teaching; continue in them: for in doing this, thou 
shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee/'* This seems 
to be the office of an Evangelist which the Lord gave the church 
after his ascension. 

XL Setting things in order in the churches — the committing 
the same office to faithful men, who shall be able to instruct otheis 
—the ordaining of elders, and a general superintendence of the 
affairs of churches, seem to have been also lodged in the hands 
of Timothy and Titus as agents of the Apostles. How far these 
works are yet necessary, and how far the superintendence of them 
may be safely lodged in the hands of select Evangelists as re- 
spects infant communities, may be, with man}^ a question of du- 
bious interpretation. But that Evangelists are to separate into 
communities their own converts, teach and superintend them till 
they are in a condition to take care of themselves, is as unques- 
tionably a part of the office of an Evangelist, as praying, preach- 
ing, or baptizing. 

XII. But we shall be asked, "Is not preaching, and baptizing, 
and even teaching, the common privilege of all disciples, as they 
have opportunity V^ And we also ask in answer, " Is it not the 
privilege of all fathers to teach their own children, and to preside 
over their own families V^ But who will thence infer, that all fii- 
thers are teachers and presidents, does not more shock common 
sense, than he who infers that all disciples, as such, are evangel- 
ists, pastors, and teachers, because we concede that in certain 
cases it is the privilege of all the citizens of Christ's kingdom to 
preach, baptize, and teach. Every citizen of Christ's kingdom 
has, in virtue of his citizenship, equal rights, privileges, and im- 
munities. So has every citizen of the United States. Yet all 
citizens are not legislators, magistrates, judges, governors, &c. 
Before any community, civil or religious, is organized, every man 
has equal rights to do what seemeth good in his own eyeSc But 
when organized, and persons appointed to office, then whatever 
rights, duties or privileges are conferred on particular persons, 
cannot of right belong to those who have transferred them ; 
any more than a person cannot both give and keep the same 
thing. 

XIII. But there are some duties and privileges we cannot 

* 1 Timothy iv. 2 Timothy iy. 



82 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

wholly communicate to others. Parents cannot wholly transfer 
the education of their children to others ; neither can a master 
transfer all his duties to a -steward or overseer. No more can the 
citizens of ChrisVs kingdom wholly transfer their duties to preach 
and teach Christ. To enlighten the ignorant, persuade the un- 
believing, to exhort the disobedient when they fall in our way and 
we have the ability or opportunity, is an intransferable duty. 
Even the Church of Rome, with all her clerical pride, commands 
and authorizes lay baptism, when a priest is not convenient. A 
Christian is by profession a preacher of truth and righteousness, 
both by precept and example. He may of right preach, baptize, 
and dispense the supper, as well as pray for all men, when circum- 
s'ances demand it. This concession does not, however, either 
dispense with the necessity of having evangelists, bishops, and 
deacons ; nor, having them, does it authorize any individual to 
assume to do what has been given in charge to them. Liberty 
without licentiousness, and government without tyranny, is the 
true genius of the Christian institution. " — - 

/" XIV. While, then, the Christian system allows every man "as 
/ he has received a gift to minister as a go.od steward of the mani- 
/ fold grace of God,'^ it makes provision for choosing and setting 
^ apart qualified persons for all its peculiar services, necessary to 
I its own edification and comfort, as well as to its usefulness in the 
I world. It provides for its own perpetuity and its growth in the 
I wisest and most practical manner. Its whole wisdom consists in 
four points: — 1st. It establishes the necessary offices for its per- 
petuity and growth. 2d. It selects the best-qualified persons for 
those offices. 3d. It consecrates or sets those persons apart to 
those offices. 4th. It commands them to give themselves wholly 
to the work, that their improvement may keep pace with the 
growth of the body, and be apparent to all. Can any person 
point out an imperfection in this plan? 
^ XV. All its officers, whether for its services at home or abroad, 
when fully proved, are to be formally and solemnly set apart by 
the imposition of the hands of the presbytery or eldership of the 
church. The whole community chooses — the seniors ordain^ 
This is the apostolic tradition. Let those unacquainted with the 
volume examine the apostolic law and usage : Acts vi. 2-6. So 
the Christian system in its elections and ordinations began. It is 
inimvtable. Therefore this system obtains in all cases. The 
qualifications for any office are always founded in the nature of 
the office. They are generally detailed, but not always, because 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 88 

the work io he done is the best guide in ascertaining the qualifiea* 
tions of the doer of it. 

XVI. "We say the seniors or elders always ordain. Popery 
says, *' None but those on whom the apostolic hands have been 
laid can of right ordain.'' Such an idea is not in the Christian 
system. The seniors always lay on hands, whether hands have 
been laid on them or not. This is true Protestantism. Better 
still, it is true Bibleism. JSfay, it is the Christian system. The 
Apostles laid on hands because seniors, and not because apostles. 
Tiiis is the jet of a controversy of fifteen hundred years' standing. 
It has been very generally, almost universally misstated and over- 
looked. Protestants are as much Papists in this, as the Papists 
are Protestants in disowning Protestantism. It is assumed by 
Romanists, and conceded by Protestants, that " holy hands'^ are 
official hands by a jure divino. They are sometimes, but not 
always. But Christian elders, (for I do not ntean mere old men,) 
who have long walked in the ways of the Lord, have holy hands, 
and much more power with and from the Lord, than ever dwelt 
in any pontiff or pretended vicar of Christ, in twelve hundred 
and sixty years. 

XVII. In proof that seniors lay on hands, we appeal to the fact, 
Acts vi., for the Apostles were the oldest converts in Jerusalem. 
We appeal also to the fact that the presbytery or eldership laid 
hands on Timothy, and gave him the gift or office of an Evan- 
gelist. And are there two rules of ordination in one system ? 
Paul and Barnabas, though A^postles, were themselves ordained by 
the Church of Antioch by its presbytery. Consequently, seniors 
in Christ, as such, can, of divine warrant, lay hands on any per- 
sons, for any office to which the church has elected them. It 
must be done also by prayer and fasting. See Acts vi. 6; xiii. 3; 
xvi. 23. 

XVIII. Persons may be juniors in years and seniors in Christ. 
Timothy, says Paul, "Zay hands suddenly on no 7nan." This im- 
plies that the ordained were juniors in the Lord ; and, until they 
had attained some character and standing as seniors, (even Timo- 
thy himself,) were not to consent to their ordination. Perhaps it 
may be necessary to say that classic presbytery and the presbytery 
of a single church are very different institutions. The Apostles 
ordained elders (a presbytery) in every church. They did not 
make young men old, but set apart those that were seniors in the 
Lord to the office of overseers. They did not make juniors seniors, 
but they made elders bishops. 



84 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

XIX. The community, the church, the multitude of the faith- 
ful, are the fountain of official power. This power descends from 
the body itself — not f^'om its servants. Servants made by ser- 
vants are servants of servants ; and such are all the clergy c f the 
Man of Sin. But the body of Christ, under him as its head, ani 
mated and led by his Spirit, is the fountain and spring of all ofl^- 
cial power and privilege. How much surer and purer is eccle- 
siastic authority thus derived from Christ the head, immediately 
through his body, than when derived through a long, doubtful, 
(corrupt dynasty of bishops or pontiffs ! The church is the mother 
of all the sons and priests of God ; and to look for authority to 
her servants or creatures, as do all sorts of Papists, whether 
Catholic or Protestant, is to worship and serve the creature more 
than the Creator — a species of idolatry worthy only of the darkest 
night of the darkest day of the dark ages. 

XX. But the church needs messengers for special occasions — 
not only her stated deacons and ministers, but ministers extra- 
ordinary. These two are selected by the church or churches in a 
given district, and commissioned, hy their letters. They are not con- 
secrated by imposition of hands, but approved hy letters from the 
community. Are we asked for authority? We produce it with 
pleasure. 1 Cor. xvi. 3 is just to the point. "And,^' says Paul 
to the saints in Corinth, "when I come, loJiomsoever you shall ap- 
prove hy letters, them will I send to bring your liberality to Jeru- 
salem.^' This is the apostolic usage in such cases. In the se- 
cond epistle Paul says, " We have sent with Titus the brother 
(Luke we opine) whose praise is in the gospel, (written by him,^ 
throughout all the churches — who was also chosen hy the churches 
to travel with us with this bounty,'^ &c. 

XXI. The Christian system demands for its perpetuity and for 
its prosperity at home and abroad, bishops, deacons, and evan- 
gelists. Its bishops teach, preside, and execute the la^vs of 
Christ in all its convocations. The deacons, a large and diverse 
class of functionaries, composed of stewards, treasurers, almo- 
ners, door-keepers, &c., as the case may require, wait continually 
upon its various services. Its evangelists, possessed of proper 
qualifications, ordained and consecrated to the work of the Lord 
in converting sinners and planting churches, by a presbytery, or 
a board of seniors competent to the prudent discharge of this 
duty, are constantly engaged in multiplying its members. These 
ministers of the word are commanded to be wholly engrossed in 
this work, and consequently to be fully sustained by their brethren 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 85 

in it. They are held responsible to all the hulj brethren, and to 
the Lord at his appearing and his kingdom, for the faithful dis- 
charge of that sacred trust confided in them. 

XXII. What an efficient institution is that over which Christ 
presides, when well understood and fully carried out in all its de- 
tails ! AVith its bishops and deacons at home, and its evangelists 
abroad, wholly devoted to the faithful discharge of their respec- 
tiv^e trusts ; men of experience, faith, piety, morality, full of zeai, 
energy, benevolence, co-operating with all similar institutions, 
supported by the prayers and free-will offerings of all the united 
people, having the love of God in their hearts, and heaven in their 
eye, what may they not achieve of glory to God, of good to men, 
and honor to themselves ! Of such an army of the faith, in full 
o])eration and concert, it might indeed be asked, " Who is this 
that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, bright as the 
sun, and terrible as an army with banners V' 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE. 



I. Members should be publicly received into all societies. 
They are so in the state. It is matter of record. When a person 
is regenerated, and desires to be enrolled among the disciples 
meeting in any one place, if his confession to salvation or immer- 
sion has not been publicly known to all the brethren, reason says 
those who have been privy to the fact, who can attest his confes- 
sion, ought to introduce him to the congregation, and he ought to 
be saluted or received as such by the brethren with whom he 
unites. This the slightest attention to propriety, the reason and 
nature of things, fully and satisfactorily demonstrate. Letters 
of recommendation are the expedient which, in apostolic times, 
was substituted for this formal introduction, when a citizen of the 
kingdom visited any community where he was unkno\vn person- 
ally to the brethren. 

II. A person cannot be under the oversight or under the disci- 
pline of a congregation, unless he voluntarily associate with the 
brethren meeting in that place, and unless it be a matter of noto- 
riety or of record among the brethren that he is one of them. 
There can be no formal exclusion if there be no formal reception. 
If there be no visible and formal union, there can be no visible 



86 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTExM. 

and formal separation. In truth, there can be no discipline in 
any congregation, unless it be an organized body ; and no body 
can be organized unless it is known who are members of it. On 
a matter of such plain common-sense perception we have seldom 
thought it necessary to say a word, and should not now have no- 
ticed it at all, had we not found some societies which cannot tell 
iheir own members, which even hesitated about the necessity )f 
a formal reception of any person into them, or of having it on 
record who belonged to them. They demanded a positive com- 
mandment or precedent for such a reception. They might as 
pertinently have demanded a positive commandment for persons 
to be formally married before they could be recognised as bus- 
band or wife, as to ask for a positive commandment for one of 
the most common dictates of reason, though, indeed, every com- 
mandment addressed to the Christian congregations on relative 
duties and privileges assumes the principle that those who be- 
long to any society are known to each other to belong to it, else 
they could not even perform the first duty to one another — they 
could not know w^hen they were assembled — they could not 
*' tarry for one another.'^ 

III. Whether there shall be a record in print, in writing, or on 
the memory of all the congregation, is a question which must 
depend on circumstances. If all the members are blessed with 
infallible memories, so as never to forget who are members, when 
they became such, when any one was received, when any one 
was rejected — I say, if every brother and sister can so well re- 
member these matters, as, when the discipline of the congregation 
or any particular question respecting any case of discipline may 
arise, they can infallibly remember all about it ; then, and in that 
case, it is unnecessary to have any record, church-book, secretary, 
or any thing written or printed. But if otherwise, there must be 
a record ; because questions involving the peace and good order 
of society may arise, and have arisen, which require infallible 
testimony, of the most satisfactory evidence on questions of fact, 
such as. Was A B ever a member of your community? When 
did he become a member of it? When was he excluded? When 
was he restored? When did he forsake the assembly of the 
Drethren ? Was he a husband at the time of his removal? &c. 

IV. Two things are paramount in all cases of discipline before 
brought into the congregation — ^he Fact and the Laio. The f^ict 
is always to be established by good testimony or by the confes- 
sion of the transgressor. The thing said to have been done, or 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 87 

the fact being estaLlished, the next question is, What is the Jaw in 
the case? This the elders of the congregation must decide. They 
are to be judges both of the fact and the law. If they are not 
they are unfit for the office and unworthy the name of ''the rulers'* 
of the congregation. When they have fully examined and de- 
cided the case, they lay it before the congregation. If they 
acquiesce the matter ends, and the accused is retained or excluded 
as the case may be. If they do not acquiesce, or if the accused 
appeals to the congregation, the case must be reconsidered; and 
if, on further examination, both the elders, the congregation, and 
the accused retain the same views and the same position, helps 
must be called either from the congregation or from some other. 
This indeed must be a rare occurrence ; and is the only ultimatum 
that Christianity contemplates. 

V. "Offences must come;'' and, if possible, they must be 
healed. To cut off an offender, is good; to cure him, is better; 
but to prevent him falling, is best of all. The Christian spirit 
and system alike inculcate all vigilance in preventing ; all expe- 
dition in healing offences ; and all firmness in removing incor- 
rigible offenders. Its disciplinary code is exceedingly simple, 
rational, and benevolent. It teaches us to regard all offences as 
acts of impiety or acts of immorality; sins against our brethren, 
or sins against God alone ; the omission of right, or the commission 
of wrong. 

YI. Trespasses against our brethren are all matters of aggression 
npon their person, property, or character. They are either private 
or public. We can only offend against the person, the property, 
or the character of a brother ; and we can do this only privately 
or publicly. Christ's legislation on private and personal offences, 
as recorded in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, commends itself 
to the approbation of Jew and Gentile all over the world. It is 
as plain and as excellent as his golden rule of moral feeling. 

VII. Without giving any rules to decide who is the aggressor, 
or the aggrieved, allowing either of the parties to view the mat- 
ter as he pleases, he commands him that supposes himself to be 
aggrieved to go to the aggressor and tell him his fault privately. 
If restitution is made and reconciliation effected, the matter ends. 
If not, he takes with him a second or a third person, states the 
facts of the case, reasons and remonstrates. If this also fails, 
then he is commanded to inform the church of the matter ; and if 
the aggressor will not hear the church, then he is to be as a hea- 
then man or a publican. 



88 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

YIIIAome, indeed, imagine a difficulty in this case ; for aftei 
** telV^ there is no it in the original ; and ask, *' What is to he told ic 
the church — the original fault, or simply that the aggressor will not 
make restitution?^^ The most natural construction of the sentence 
favors the simple statement of the fact — that an offence had been 
committed and restitution refused, without going into the details 
of the trespass. But a second difficulty has been suggested on 
the manner in which the congregation is to be informed. Is it to 
be told to the whole community in full assembly met? or to those 
appointed by the congregation to hear and adjudicate such mat- 
ters ? Certainly the congregation has ears as well as a tongue, 
and it is not all ears nor all tongue. Every well-organized church 
has its eldership, who hear all such matters, and who bring them 
before the whole assembly only when it is absolutely necessary, 
and even then at a convenient season. 

IX. The elders hear the matter ; and if the case be one that re- 
quires a special committee, which Paul calls " secular seats of 
judicature,'' 1 Cor. vi. 4, they appoint it; then, and not till then, 
if their decision of the matter be refused, they bring it before the 
whole congregation, and he is excluded from among them, that 
he may be as a heathen man and a publican — one entitled only to 
civil and not to Christian respect — one whose company is to be 
eschewed rather than courted. 

X. The whole community can act, and ought to act, in receiv- 
ing and in excluding persons :. but in the aggregate, it can never 
become judges of offences and a tribunal of trial. Such an insti- 
tution was never set up by divine authority. No ^community is 
composed only of wise and discreet full-grown men. The Chris- 
tian church engrosses old men, young men, and babes in Christ. 
Shall the voice of a babe be heard, or counted as a vote, in a case 
of discipline ? What is the use of bishops in a church, if all are 
to rule — of judges, if all are judges of fact and law? No wonder 
that broils and heart-burnings, and scandals of all sorts disturb 
those communities ruled by a democracy of the whole — where 
every thing is to be judged in public and full assembly. Such 
is not the Christian system. It ordains that certain persons shall 
judge and rule,* and that all things shall " be done decently and 
in order.'' 

XI. Besides matters of private trespass between brethren, there 
are matters of public wrong, or acts of injustice towards the 
whole Christian community, and also towards them that are with- 

* 1 Tim. iii. 5. ; v. 17. Acts xx. 2S-31» Ileb. xiii. 17, &c. Sec. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 89 

out. Drunkenness in a professor, for example, is a sin against 
God and against all the Christian brotherhood. It is, moreover, 
a public nuisance to all men, so far as it is witnessed or known 
The transgressor in such a case, if he be not penitent and reform, 
must be convicted of the offence. An attempt at convicting him 
of the offence is not to be made till he fail to acknowledge it. A 
failure to acknowledge, or an attempt to deny, calls for conviction, 
and precludes the idea of repentance. 

XII. In all cases of conviction the church is to be addressed 
through its rulers. No private individual has a right to accuse 
any person before the whole community. The charge, in no case, 
is to be preferred before the whole congregation. Such a pro- 
cedure is without precedent in the Law or in the Gospel — in any 
well-regulated society, church, or stat^. If, then, any brother fall 
into any public offence, those privy to it notify the elders of the 
church, or those for the time-being presiding over it, of the fact, 
and of the evidence on which they rely. The matter is then in 
the hands of the proper persons. They prosecute the investiga- 
tion of it; and, on the denial of the accused, seek to convict him 
of the allegation. 

XIII. AVhen a person is convicted of any offence, he is un- 
worthy of the confidence of the brethren ; for conviction supposes 
concealment and denial; and these, of course, are evidence of 
impenitence. We do not say that such a one is never again to be 
worthy of such confidence; but that until he has given satisfac- 
tory proofs of genuine repentance, he is to be treated as one not 
of the body of Christ. 

XIY. In all cases of hopeful repentance the transgressor is to 
be restored with admonition. The acknowledgment of an offence, 
and of repentance for it, are, in all cases, to be as public as the 
sin itself. Peter^s sin and repentance are as public as his name. 
So was David's. So should be those of all transgressors, Those 
who have caused the Saviour and his faithful followers to blush 
ought themselves to be made ta blush before the world ; and if 
their sorrow and amendment be genuine, they will do it cheerfully 
and fully. ''Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also 
may fear,'' 1 Tim. v. 29.* 

XY. Whether it may be always prudent in the incipient stages 
of every case of discipline to have open doors, or whether some 
cases may not require closed doors, are questions referred to 

* By a reference to an Extra on Order, published 1835, the curious reader may find 
othtH' useful hints on the subject of discipline. 



90 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

human prudence ; but in the case of the ultimate decision of the 
congregation, and in that of exclusion, there can be but one 
opinion on the necessity and utility of its being done in the pre- 
Bence of all who may please to attend. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



EXPEDIENCY. 



I. "All things lawful are not expedient, because all things 
lawful edify not.'' So Paul substantially affirmed. A position 
of licentious tendency, if not well qualified. As defined by its 
author, it is perfectly safe. He only assumed that there were 
many things which he might lawfully do, which were not expe- 
dient for him to do. He might, for example, have married a wife, 
eat the flesh of either Jewish or Pagan sacrifices, or drunk the 
wine of their libations, &;c. &c., according to the Christian law; 
but, in the circumstances of his peculiar vocation and localities, 
to have done these things would have b-een inexpedient. 

II. Law itself is, indeed, at best but an expedient — a means, 
supposed at the time of its promulgation, suitable to some rational 
end. But, owing to the mutability of things, laws often fail t-o 
be the best means to the ends proposed; and are therefore abo- 
lished, or, for the time-being, suspended. This is true of all laws 
and institutions prescribing the modes and foj^ms of action, whether 
in religion or morality. Moral laws, properly so called, are, in- 
deed, immutable ; becxiuse the principle of every moral law is 
love, and that never can cease to be not only a way and means, 
but the onlj/ way and means, to rational, to human happiness. 
Positive precepts, however, prescribing i\\Q forms of religious and 
moral action, emanating from God himself, have been changed, 
and may again be changed, while all the elements of piety and 
morality are immutable. It would now, for example, be immoral 
to marry a natural sister; yet it was for a time done by divine 
authority. It became inexpedient to continue the practice, and 
the law was changed. 

in. There is, therefore, a law of expediency, as well as the ex- 
pediency of law. This law of expediency, as it is, indeed, the 
basis of the expediency of law in the divine government, ha? 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 91 

been, as in the case of David eating the loaves of the presence, 
and the priests profaning the Sabbath by the hibors of the temple, 
occasionally elevated above the precepts that prescrilje the forms 
of religious and moral action. True, indeed, that such cases are 
exceedingly rare; and they are rare reasoners who can safely de- 
cide when any particular precept prescribing the form of action 
may, for the sake of the action itself, be waived or suspended. It 
is, moreover, exceedingly questionable, whether, under the more 
perfect institution of Christianity, the law of expediency can 
ever clash with any moral or religious precept in the New Cove- 
nant. 

lY. Still, there are many things left to the law of expediency, 
concerning which no precepts are found in the apostolic writings. 
To ascertain these is the object of this chapter. They are then, 
in one sentence, those things, or forms of action, which it was 
impossible or unnecessary^ to i*educe to special precepts ; conse- 
quently they are not faith, piety, nor morality; because whatever 
is of the faith, of the worship, or of the morality of Christianity, 
was both possible and necessary to be promulgated ; and is ex- 
pressly and fully propounded in the sacred scriptures. The law 
of expediency, then, has no place in determining the articles of 
faith, acts of worship, nor principles of morality. All these re- 
quire a ^'tJiiis saith ihe LordJ^ in express statements, and the sacred 
writings have clearly defined and decided them. But in other 
matters that may be called the circumstantials of the gospel and 
of the church of Christ, the people of God are left to their own 
discretion and to the facilities and exigencies of society. 

V. Many things, indeed, that are of vital importance to the 
well-being and prosperity of the kingdom of Christ, are left to 
the law of expediency. A few examples will suffice : — Can any 
one imagine any measures of more consequence than the safe- 
keeping of the apostolic writings, the multiplication of copies, 
the translation of them into different languages, and the mode of 
distributing them throughout the whole world ? Now, who can 
show a positive or special precept on any one of these four vital 
points? Scribes or copyists, paper-makers, printers, bookbinders, 
and vendors of the oracles of God, are as unknown to the apos- 
tolic writers as mails, post-offices, railroads, and steam-engines. 
So negligent, too, has the kingdom of Christ been on some of 
these points, that she has not at this hour a received copy of the 
Living Oracles. We American and English people have a re- 
ceived version by authority of a king ; but we have not a received 



92 THE CHIIISTIAN SYSTEM 

ORIGINAL by the authority of any king or government, civil or 
ecclesiastic. A startling fact, truly ! But who dares to deny it? 

VI. Next to these are meeting-houses, baptisteries. Lord's tables, 
the emblematic loaf and cup, times of convocation, arrange- 
ments for the day, &c. &c. Acts of parliament, decrees of synods 
and councils, but no apostolic enactments, statutes, or laws, are 
found for an^^ of these important items. There is neither precept 
nor precedent in the New Testament for building, hiring, buying, 
. or possessing a meeting-house; for erecting a baptismal basin, 
font, or bath; for chancel, altar, table, leavened or unleavened 
bread, chalice, cup, or tankard, and many other things of equal 
value. 

YII. There is no law, rule, or precedent for the manner of eat- 
ing the Lord's supper, no hint as to the quantity of bread and 
Tvine to be used by each participant; nothing said about Avho 
shall partake first, or how it shall be conveyed from one to an- 
other. These are all discretionary matters, and left to the pru- 
dence and good sense of the Christian communities — in other 
words, to the law of expediency. 

VIII. Touching these and very many other such matters and 
things, nothing is enacted, prescribed, or decided by apostolic 
authority; but all the things to be done are enjoined in very clear 
and broad precepts, or in very striking and clear apostolic pre- 
cedents. General laws and precepts, embracing the whole range 
of religious and moral action, are often found in the sayings of 
the Lord and of his ministers of the New Institution, from which 
also our duties and obligations may be clearly ascertained. That 
"marriage is honorable in all'^ is clearly taught ; but who ever 
read a verse on the manner in which this most important of all 
social institutions is to be performed? No age is fixed at which 
the covenant shall be made or ratified — no time of life prescribed 
for its consummation — nothing said about who shall perform the 
service, the formula, the witnesses, the record, &c. And, still 
more singular, there is no table, or law, or statute in all the New 
Covenant saying who may, or who may not, enter into that rela- 
tion on any principle of consanguinity or affinity. By the consent 
of the Christian church the Jewish law obtains in this matter. 

IX. The communion of saints, of all Christian churches — the 
"^ co-operation of churches as one holy nation, a kingdom of priests, 

as a peculiar people in all common interests and benefits — an effi- 
cient gospel ministry, supported justly and honorably by the 
whole community — are matters clearly and fully taught by both 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 93 

apostolic precept and authority ; but the forms, the ways and 
means by which these ends shall be attained, are left to the law 
of expediency. 

X. But here arises a practical and all-important question, viz.: 
Who shall ascertain and ivho shall interpret this law of expediency P 
We all agree that expedients are tc be chosen with regard to times, 
seasons, and other circumstances. Changes in these must always 
change expedients. The mariner's compass, the art of printing, 
new modes of travelling, banks and their commercial operations, 
new forms of government, &c. &c., have changed the order of 
society and all human expedients. Now the law of expediency 
is the law of adopting the best present means of attaining any 
given end. But this is a matter which the wisdom and good 
sense of individuals and communities must decide. This is not, 
this cannot be, a matter of standing revelation. Now if the church 
was always unanimous in opinion as in faith — if all its accumu- 
lated wisdom gave one uniform decision on all such questions — 
then the whole church is by one voice to ascertain the law of ex- 
pediency on any given point. But this is not the case. No class 
of men, apostles, teachers, privates, ever did agree on questions 
of expediency. Paul and Barnabas dissented and differed, with- 
out any breach of communion, on a question of this sort. Hence 
arises the necessity of the spirit of concession, subordination, 
bearing, forbearing, submitting to one another. When there are 
two views or opinions on any question of expediency entertained 
by two parties, one of them must yield, or there are two distinct 
systems of operation, and ultimately two distinct parties. Ac- 
cording to the law of expediency, then, the minors in age, expe- 
rience, or numbers, must give place to the majors in age, expe- 
rience, or numbers. But as numbers are supposed to represent 
the ratios of age, wisdom, and knowledge, it is expedient that a 
clearly-ascertained majority of those whose province it is to de- 
cide any matter shall interpret the law of expediency; or, in other 
words, the minority shall peacea'bly and cordially acquiesce in 
the decisions of the majority. Since the age of social compacts 
began, till now, no other principle of co-operation, no other law 
of expediency, can secure the interest?, the union, harmony, and 
strength of any people, but that of the few submitting to the 
many. 

XI. He that asks for unanimity asks for what is not often at- 
tainable in a small number of persons. He asks for the liberty 
of one or two to govern or to control a whole community — for the 



94 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

government of a minority, however small, over a majority, how^- 
ever large. This is virtually, though not formally, and not often 
intentionally, the demand of all the advocates of unanimity in 
ascertaining or interpreting the law of expediency in any given 
case. The law of expediency enacts that a majority of the se- 
niors shall decide in all cases what is most expedient to be done 
in attaining any of the ends commanded in the Christian Institu- 
tion, the means to which are not divinely ordained in the written 
laws of that institution ; and that the minority shall cheerfully 
and conscientiously acquiesce in such decisions. 

XII. The law of love is the supreme laiv of religion, morality, and 
expediency. No code of laws, loUhout it, could make or keep any 
people pure, peaceable, and happy; and with it, we only iv ant, in 
most matters, but general laivs. This is the spirit, and soul, and 
body of the Christian Institution. We cannot love by law, but 
we can walk in love with no other law but that of love. The 
Christian system contemplates love as supreme, and makes no 
arrangements nor provisions for keeping together a carnal, worldly, 
selfish, self-willed population. Better such a confederacy had 
burst into as many particles as persons, by the repellant principle 
of selfishness, than to be hooped together by all the laws of expe- 
diency from Noah to John Wesley. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

HERESY. 



I. Schisms and heresies are matters strongly reprobated in the 
Christian Scriptures. That they may be guarded against with due 
care, they must be contemplated and understood in their true and 
proper scriptural attributes. AYe shall therefore first attempt to 
define them. 

II. The term schism is found but eight times in the apostolic 
writings. When applied to a garment. Matt. ix. 16, Mark xx. 
21, it is properly translated rent; applied to a concx)urse of peo- 
ple, John vii. 43, ix. 16, x. 19, it is translated division ; when 
applied to the church by Paul, 1 Cor. i. 10, xi. 1 8, xii. 25, it de- 
notes division or alienation — not on account of faith, doctrines, or 
opinions — but on account of men as leaders or chiefs among the 
brethren. So the connections in which it is found always indicate. 
It is a division as respects internal union, or the union of heart 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 95 

and afFection, only tending to a breach of visible or outward union, 
and therefore reprobated by the Apostle. Such are its New Tes- 
tament acceptations. 

III. Schisms may then exist where there is the most perfect 
agreement in faith, in doctrine, in all religious tenets. Undue at- 
tachment to certain persons, to the disparagement of others, par- 
tial regards because of personal preferences, are the true elements 
of schism or division as it appeared in Corinth, and as the word 
is used in the New Testament. But few persons, nowadays, 
can correctly appreciate the force of the word schism in the apos- 
tolic age, because but a very few experimentally know the inti- 
macies, the oneness of heart and soul, that obtained and prevailed 
in the Christian profession while all was genuine and uncorrupt. 
A union formed on Christian principles — -a union with Christ and 
with his people, in views, sentiments, feelings, aims, and pur- 
suits — a real copartnery for eternity — almost annihilated indivi- 
duality itself, and inseparably cemented into one spirit all the 
genuine members of Christ's body. Kindred drops do not more 
readily mingle into one mass, than flowed the souls of primitive 
Christians together in all their aspirations, loves, delights, and 
interests. Hence arose that jealousy in the Apostle Paul when 
first he learned that particular persons in Corinth began t-o attract 
to themselves notice and attachment for mere personal, individual, 
and fleshly considerations, as leaders or chiefs in the Christian 
family. In these indications he already saw the dissolution of 
the church. Although yet but one visible community, having one 
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one table, one ostensible supreme 
and all-controlling interest ; still, in these attachments to particular 
persons he not only saw a real division or breach in the hearts of 
the people, but foresaw that it would issue in positive, actual, and 
visible disunion or heresy. And here we are led to inquire into 
the scriptural import of this word heresy, 

ly. Hairesis, strictly and literally indicative of choice or option ^ 
is anglicized heresy, and properly rendered sect or faction, and by 
implication discord and contention. It is found only nine times in 
the New Testament. In the Acts of the Apostles, v. 17, we 
have it rendered "the sect of the Sadducees ;'^ — xv. 5, "the sect 
of the Pharisees;^' — xxiv. 5, "the sect of the Nazarenes ;" — xxiv. 
14, " after the way which they call heresy, (a sect,) so worship I," 
says Paul ; — xxvi. 5, " after the most strict sect of our religion I 
lived a Pharisee ;" — xxviii. 22, "as for this sect (of the Christians) 
we know that it is everywhere spoken against.^' Besides these 



96 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

six occurrences, we find it twice used by Paul in his epistles, and 
once by Peter. 1 Cor. xi. 19, ** For there must be heresies (sects) 
among you/\ Gal. v. 20, ** Seditions, heresies.'' 2 Peter ii. 1, 
" Shall bring in damnable heresies.'' In the common version it 
is, then, five times rendered sect, and four times heresy, 

y. As the word sect or heresy, found only in the Acts of the 
Apostles and Epistles, does always in the former simply mean a 
party, without any regard to its tenets, the term has nothing in 
it either reproachful or honorable — nothing virtuous or vicious. 
Hence it is equally applied to Pharisees, Sadducees, Nazarenes, 
or Christians, without any insinuation as to the character of the 
party. It is only once rendered heresy in the Acts, and in that 
place it ought most obviously to have been sect, Paul had been 
accused by Tertullus (Acts xxiv. 6) with the crime of being -^a 
ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." Now, in vindicating 
himself from any censure in this case, he ought to have met the 
charge under the same title. This he did in the original ; for in 
verse 5th, in the indictment, and in verse 14th, in his defence, we 
have the same word hairesis. How injudicious, then, was it on 
the part of our translators and the Vulgate to make Tertullus ac- 
cuse Paul of a sect, and to make Paul defend himself of a heresy^ 
when both Tertullus and Paul used the same word in their speeches 
as reported by Luke in the original ! 

YI. In the new version this word is, as it should be, uniformly 
rendered sect. In the Epistles, and apparently once in the Acts, 
it is used as though it included an idea of censure or guilt. Paul 
defends himself from the accusation of Tertullus. Here, then, a 
question arises : — Why should the term hairesis import blame in 
its Christian and none in its Jewish acceptation ? We answer, 
Because among the Jews sects or parties did not terminate, as 
among Christians, in separate communities or communions. They 
resembled the high and low church parties in the Episcopalian 
communion ; or the diff'erent and numerous sects among the Ro- 
manists, — viz. : Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, 
&c., which never terminate in a breach of communion or co-ope- 
ration as one church. Thus the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, 
&c. frequented the same temple, altar, priesthood, and united in 
all the same acts of worship. Not so the Jews and Samaritans • 
they were real sects in the Christian sense. Again, among the 
Jews the bond of union was national and fleshly ; and, therefore, 
parties could not destroy it. With us it is spiritual, social, cor- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 97 

dial,— one faith, one hope, one spirit ; and parties are destructive 
of this in the superlative degree. 

YII. To this view there is but one plausible objection; and 
that we meet in the answer to the question, Why did Paul defend 
himself from the accusation of Tertullus as indicating censure, if 
sects among the Jews were such harmless and inoffensive things? 
We answer, There is no blame in the simple imputation of a sect, 
but in the ideas which Tertullus connected with it. The Romans 
had agreed to protect the Jews in the enjo^^ment of their religion 
and they wished in the presence of Felix to make Paul appear an 
apostate from that religion — "a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedi- 
tion, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes'* — that he might 
be from under the protection granted to the Jews' religion. From 
this view only can we see the wisdom of PauTs defence. He 
admits the charge of being a sectary, but in no criminal sense — 
worshipping the same God with them, believing every word in 
their law and Prophets, and cherishing the same hope of a future 
life in the resurrection of the dead, and thus evinces that nothing 
offensive or criminal could be imputed to him on account of his 
being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 

VIII. In the Christian epistles it is, however, used in a bad 
sense, and is always connected with censure. This may have 
been the reason why King James's version changes the translation, 
into heresies, or, as in the case of baptism, h'lshop, &c., anglicizes 
rather than translates the word. It is not, however, a good or a 
sufficient reason, because it necessarily imposes upon the English 
reader ihvitheresy in the epistles, and sect in the Acts of the Apos- 
tles, are two distinct and different things ; and this, of course, 
not only obscures those passages, but also prevents the clear in- 
telligence of a matter essential to our duty and our happiness. 
The acceptation, however, is not materially different in the epis- 
tles, except in the relation of things. AVhen the word sect is con- 
T.ected with a proper name, such as the sect of the Pharisees, the 
sect of the Sadducees, or the sect of the Christians, it is used in a 
middle sense, neither as intimating truth or error, good or evil ; 
but if it be applied to a party formed in a community which ad- 
mits of no division or subdivision in its nature, because necessa- 
rily tending to its corruption and destruction, then, in that rela- 
tion and sense, a sect is a destructive and condemnable thing. 
Now, in the E pis ilea it is always taken in this sensje, and ia 

9 



98 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ranked withjaetions^ as a work of the flesh, carnal and destruc- 
tive, and doomed to the judgments of Heaven. 

IX. Still, in its scriptural application, whether used by Luke, 
Paul, or Peter, (and it is found in no other writer,) it never re- 
lates to doctrine, tenet, opinion, or faith. There is not, in sacred 
usage, any tenet, or doctrine^ which is called heresy, or sect. Hence 
that ecclesiastical definition, viz.: ^'Heresy denotes some erroneous 
opinion, tenet, or doctrine obstinately persisted in,^^ is without any 
countenance from the New Testament. Heresy and heretical, 
in the lips of Paul and Peter, and in the lips of an ancient 
or modern schoolman or churchman, are two very different 
things. 

X. But some allege that any doctrine that makes division is he- 
retical, and therefore condemnable. It may be admitted, for the 
sake of argument, that any doctrine or action that makes division 
is heretical or divisive; but on this account it is not condemnable; 
because in that sense Jesus Christ was a heretic and his gospel 
heresy ; for he came to make divisions on earth, and did make a 
sect ; and, of course, his doctrine is divisive or heretical. 

XI. Now, if we say Jesus was a heretic, and his gospel heresy, 
and his followers sectaries, does not this divest the word of any 
bad or culpable significance, and make both heretics, heresies, 
and sects innocent things? It does, so far as all without Christ's 
kingdom or institution are concerned. But this is the all-import- 
ant difference in this place; Christians, contradistinguished from 
Jews, Mussulmen, Pagans, Infidels, are lawfully, righteously, and 
innocently a sect, a heresy: but a sect among these is corrupt, 
treasonable, and most reprehensible, according to every precept, 
doctrine, and saying of the New Institution. Thus a man may 
be a Christian, or of the sect of the Nazarenes, but not a Lu- 
theran, a Calvinist, an Arminian, without blame. 

XII. The words schism and heresy so far explained, may we not 
regard schism as the cause, and heresy as the effect? or, in ther 
w^ords, must we not regard sects as the effects of schisms? The 
philosophy of the whole matter, then, is, that separation is the 
effect of alienation of heart, alienation the fruit of rival attach- 
ments, which in the church generally begin in personal sympa- 
thies or personal antipathies, and end in detaching the subjects of 
them from the body of Christ. In this view of the matter Paul 
seems to reason, 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19:— "There are schisms among 
you — for there must be sects among you, that the approved may 
be made manifest.'' The schisms in Corinth began in particular 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 99 

predilections for great teachers; such as Paul, Apollo-, Cephas. 
These preferences violated that iinil// of spii if, t\\\\t oneness of 
heart, essential to one body in Christ ; and that led to parties ia 
the church, displa^'ed in the manner they celebrated the supj.er. 
This same spirit in other communities ultimately led to visible 
separations and distinct sects, as among the professed members 
of Christ's body at the present day. 

XIII. Paul, in commenting on this most ancient schism, further 
observes, that there must, of necessity, be sects in such a state of 
things, that ** the approved may be made manifest.'^ So true it 
is that all strifes, contentions, parties, and sects grow out of cor- 
ruption. Sects are the egress of corruptions. The approved hold 
to Christ, and thus become manifest; the disapproved follow 
human leaders, and are also made manifest. There appears no 
other cure for a corrupt and mixed community than heresies or 
sects. It is as wise and benevolent a provision in a remedial 
system, that incurable corruption should work out in this way, as 
that law in the animal kingdom which forces to the surface all 
unfriendly humors, and congregates into swellings and biles 
those vicious particles which would otherwise vitiate the whole 
system, and fatally terminate in the ruin of the body. 

XIV. Men, indeed, do not fall in love with Paul, Peter, and 
Cephas, in the partisan sense, till they have lost some of their 
love for Christ. Hence the first indication of personal regards, or 
of sectarian attachment, is the first proof of declension, backslid- 
ing, or apostasy. The partisan attachment is of the essence of 
the first sin, and carries deeply concealed in its core the first ele- 
ment of hatred. Thus we observe that he that loves Wesley for 
any sectarian attribute hates Calvin just in the ratio of his at- 
tachment to his leader ; as he who loves Calvin for his human- 
isms hates Wesley for opposing them. While he that loves only 
what is Christian in the two in no sense hates either; but gr'eves 
for the errors and delinquencies of both. If for no other reason, 
we ought most devoutly and ardently to eschew partyism ; for 
this it ought to be abjured, viz.: that our hatred of one party will 
always be in the ratio of our love for its antagonist; and in all 
such cases both our love and our hatred are obnoxious to the re- 
probation of God, and lie, indeed, under the doom of his express 
condemnation. 

XV. On this account we presume it is that the next place we 
find this word hairesis, and the only time it is again found in 
Paul's epistles, it stands immediately after ''factions'' and before 



100 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

^^envyings Q>T\d murders,^' in Paul's enumeration and classification 
of the works of the flesh, Gal. v. 20, the perpetrators of which, 
Paul strongly and repeatedly affirmed, shall not ''enter the king- 
dom of God.^' He says, *' The w^orks of the flesh are manifest, 
which are these — fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, sorcery, 
enmities, strifes, emulations, wraths, brawlings, factions, sects, 
envyings, murders, intoxication,'^ &c. &c. Every sectary is, then, 
Paul being in the chair of judgment, a fleshly man, and without 
the precincts of the kingdom of God. A severe judgment, truly! 
How shall we understand it ? 

XYI. It is now still more evident that heresies are not mere 
opinions, tenets, doctrines, or theories ; for who will affirm that 
opinions, tenets, or theories, as such, are works of the flesh? Or 
who will say that fleshly principles are the roots or reasons of 
mere opinions, tenets, or theories, &c.? Corrupt opinions, in- 
deed, may be more naturally propagated or received by corrupt 
men ; but to make opinions or tenets, even those sectarian opinions 
on which some parties are founded, works of the flesh, is to con- 
found mental imbecility, or a defective education, with depravity 
of the heart ; for nothing can be called a work of the flesh that 
partakes not of the corruptions of the heart. Hairesis in this 
place, then, means sects, as it always does in the New Testa- 
ment, 

XVII. Still the question recurs. Are all religious sects works 
of the flesh ? Paul makes no exceptions. We dare not. He 
speaks not of philosophic, political, or foreign factions and sects; 
but of those appertaining to the Christian institution. Among 
the Jews Paul himself was ^Pharisee; among the political castes 
he was a Roman; but in religion he was a Christian : not a Cal- 
vinist, Arminian, or Methodist; but a Christian. Indeed, Paul 
himself, in his history of sectaries, or of the founders and makers 
of religious parties, traces all their zeal and effort to the stomach, 
rather than to the conscience, or the love of truth. "Mark 
them,'' sa3's he, " who cause divisions and offences contrary to 
the doctrine which you have received, and avoid them ; for such 
persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own helhj ; 
and by flattery and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the 
simple.'' Surely such sectaries and sects are " the works of the 
flesh." 

XVIII. But here we o aght to define tifactionist and a sectary , 
since nowadays we have some sectarians that are not factionista, 
and some factionists and factions that are more than mere secta- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 101 

ries. The factlonist, or, as Paul calls him, the " heretic/' makes 
the faction. The faction are those who take part with him. While 
the ordinary sectaries are those who are simply led by the heretic, 
beguiled by his flatteries and fair speeches, without any sinister 
motive impelling their course. There are many sectarians who, 
in the simplicity of their hearts, imagine their party to be the 
true and only church of Christ, and therefore conscientiously ad- 
here to it. There are others who think that no party is the church 
of Christ, but that he has a church in all parties — an invisible 
church — to which they think themselves to belong, and therefore 
fraternize with all of a similar stamp in all parties so far as known 
to them. These differ much from the schismatics, heretics, and 
factionists of Paul. These either made, or labored to keep up, 
a party or a sect ; and all such persons are corrupt, fleshly men ; 
jt)ecause, from pride of their own opinion, from emulation, ambi- 
tion, or the love of money, they are prompted to create or to keep 
vip a faction or sect favorable to their views and interests. These 
serve their own appetites and mind earthly things. But a great 
mass of sectaries are following, as they imagine, Jesus Christ 
and his Apostles, under the name and tenets of Luther, Calvin, 
Wesley, &c. They are, without knowing it, the mere followers 
of men ; for they examine nothing for themselves by a constant 
and habitual reference to the Bible. 

XIX. Now, what may be the amount of carnality and fleshly 
or worldly influence that keeps them there, and what may be the 
amount of long-suffering and forgiveness exercised towards them 
from heaven, I presume not to dogmatize ; but that the fictionist, 
— the person who makes a party, — and he who labors to keep it up, 
are certainly earthly, sensual, and demoniacal ; and, as such, not 
of the kingdom of God, we cannot but assert as a conviction deep 
and rational, derived from the most impartial examination of the 
sacred scriptures — from the clearest and most ample testimony of 
the Holy Spirit, speaking to us in the w^ords of Prophets and 
Apostles. 

XX. The Christian party are *' built on the foundation of the 
Apostles and Prophets, and on Jesus the Messiah, himself the 
chief corner-stone, '^ and therefore onthe Christian Scriptures alone; 
not, indeed, as contradistinguished from the Jewish, but as the 
development and full revelation of all that concerns Christ and 
his kingdom contained in those scriptures. Now, all other parties 
that are in any way diverse from the Christian party are built 
upon some alloy — some creed, formula, or human institution sup- 



102 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

plementary to the apostolic laws and customs. This nlloy is 
what makes the part3^ So many items of the Apostles' doctrine 
and so many notions of Calvin combined produce the compound 
called Calvinism. So many items of Luthei-'s opinions, com- 
pounded with the Apostles' teaching, make Luthoranism. And 
so many portions of Wesley's speculations, compounded with 
certain portions of the New Testament, make the compound 
called Methodism. The Chri.^tian ingredients in these compounds, 
so far as they are not neutralized by the humai alloy, make the 
Christians among them ; while the alloy makes the sectary. 
Take away all that belongs to the founder of the sect in all these 
parties, and they would certainly coalesce and form one com- 
munity. 

XXI. Now, we do not suppose that there is the same guilt in 
forming a new Protestant party that there was in first of all form- 
ing the lloman Catholic, the Greek, or any of the ancient sects. 
The modern sects have been got up with the desire of getting 
back to primitive Christianity ; the ancient sects arose directly 
from the lust of power, — from fleshly, selBsh, and worldly mo- 
tives. Now, however, since we have so largely eaten of the g ill 
and wormwood, of the bitter fruits of sects and parties, and have 
learned the cause, the cure, and the preventive of sectarianism, 
alas for all that are found keeping up the old landmarks of strife, 
or la3'ing the foundation f )r new rivalries, partialities, and anti- 
pathies, to arise and pollute many, to retard the progress of the 
gospel abroad, and to foster the spirit of infidelity at home! 

XXII. There remains another occurrence of hairesis (sect) in 
the Avritings of Peter, not 3^et formall}^ examined. AVe shall now 
specially consider it. This Apostle s:iys, "There shall be false 
teachers among you, who will privately introduce dest met ice sects, 
den^'ing even the Lord that bought them, bringing on themselves 
swift destruction ; and many will follow their bad practices.'' 
Paul, in his valedictory to the Ephesians, also speaks of "grievous 
wolves devouring the flock, and of men rising out of their own 
society to draw away disciples after them, speaking perverse 
things.'' From these intimations we learn the Apostles Paul and 
Peter foresaw the rise of sectaries and sects ; and b(;th of them, 
it is worthy of remark, distinctly connected the sects with secta- 
rian teachers: for all sects have been originated by false teachers 
or by corrupt men. Sectaries, it would appear, occupj^ the same 
place under Christ that false prophets filled under Moses. Need 
we, then, infer the danger of keeping up religious sects, or go on 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 103 

to prove that every one who builds up a party is a partaker of the 
crime with him who set it up? 

XXIII. It behooves all men, then, Avho wish to be approved by 
the Lord at his coming, to be up and doing to purge and cleanse 
the Christian profession from every root and branch of sectarian- 
ism, and to endeavor to destroy those destructive sects that have 
been a sort of Pandora's box to the human race ; that have filled 
the profession with hypocrites, the world with infidels, and re- 
tarded for so many centuries the conversion of both Jews and 
Gentiles to the Christian faith. 

XXIV. Finally, while endeavoring to abolish the old sects, let 
us be cautious that we form not a new one. This may be done 
by either adding to, or subtracting from, the apostolic constitution 
a single item. Our platform must be as long and as broad as the 
New Testament. Everj^ person that the Apostles would receive, 
if present, we must receive ; and therefore the one faith, one 
Lord, one baptism, one hope, one body, one Spirit, one God and 
Father of all, must be made the reason of one, and only one 
table. 

XXV. Factionists, or opinionists, or those who seek to attach 
men to themselves because of their opinions or talents or per- 
sonal accidents, whatever they may be, are to be regarded as the 
very roots of bitterness in the Christian church — as seeking their 
own interests, honors, and profits, and not the things of Jesus 
Christ. By such spirits as these the ancient schisms and sects 
began; and by kindred spirits, of which every generation can 
furnish its proper ratios, they are kept alive. All such persons 
have not the power of eflfecting much; but now and then one 
arises and succeeds in drawing away disciples after him. We 
can suggest: no better remedies or preventives than those com- 
manded by the Apostles. Let us hold fast their traditions ; con- 
tend only for the faith ; allow differences of opinion ; suffer no 
dogmatists ; countenance none of the disciples of Diotrephes ; 
and walk in love, guided by that wisdom which is "first pure, 
then peaceable, gentle, easy to be persuaded, full of mercy and 
of good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." 

XXVI. From the preceding inductions it will appear, we pre- 
sume, very evident to all, that we need neither telescopes nor 
microscopes to detect heresies in the New Testament sense of 
that word. They are neither more nor less than sects — plain, 
palpable sects and parties. Every party in Christendom, with- 
out respect to any of its tenets, opinions, or practices, is a heresy^ 



104 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

a schism — unless there be such a party as stands exactly upon 
the Apostles' ground. Then, in that ca?e, it is a sect just in the 
sense of the old sect of the Nazarenes, afterwards called Chris- 
tians, and all others are guilty before the Lord, and must be con- 
demned for their opposition to Christ's own party ; w^hose party 
we are, provided w^e hold fast all, and only all, the apostolic tra- 
ditions, and build upon the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothiug 
out the Bible. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 105 



FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN UNION. 

"I PRAY for those who shall believe on me through their 

teaching, that all may he one; that as thou, Father, art in me, and 
I in thee, they also may be one in us, thai the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me, and that thou gavest me the glory, which I 
have given them, that they may be one, as we are one ; I in them, 
and thou in me, that their union may be perfected: and that the 
world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou lovest them 
as thou lovest me/' Thus Messiah prayed ; and well might he 
pray thus, seeing he was wise enough to teach that, "If a king- 
dom be torn by factions, that kingdom cannot subsist. And if a 
family be torn by factions, that family cannot subsist. By civil 
dissensions any kingdom may be desolated ; and no city or fiimily, 
where such dissensions are, can subsist.^' 

If this be true, — and true it is, if Jesus be the Messiah, — in 
what moral desolation is the kingdom of Jesus Christ ! Was 
there at any time, or is there now, in all the earth, a kingdom 
more convulsed by internal broils and dissensions, than what is 
commonly called the church of Jesus Christ? Should any one 
think it lawful to paganize both the Greek and Latin churches—^ 
to eject one hundred millions of members of the Greek and Roman 
communions from the visible and invisible precincts of the Chris- 
tian family or kingdom of Jesus Christ, and regard the Protestant 
f\iith and people as the only true faith and the only true citizens 
of the kingdom of Jesus; what then shall we say of them, con- 
templated as the visible kingdom over which Jesus presides as 
Prophet, Priest, and King? Of forty millions of Protestants 
shall we constitute the visible kingdom of the Prince of Peace? 
Be it so for the sake of argument ; and what then ? The Christian 
army is forty millions strong ; but how do they muster ? Under 
forty ensigns ? Under forty antagonist leaders ? "Would to God 
there were but forty ! In the Geneva detachment alone there is 
almost that number of petty chiefs. My soul sickens at the 
details ! 

Take the English branch of the Protestant faith — I mean Eng- 
land and the United States and all the islands where the English 



106 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Bilile is read ; and how many broils, dissensions, and anathemas 
may we compute? I will not attempt to name the antagonizing 
creeds, feuds, and parties, that are in eternal war, under the ban- 
ners of the Prince of Peace. And yet they talk of love and 
charity, and of the conversion of the Jews, the Turks, and 
Pagans!!! 

Shall we turn from the picture, lay down our pen, and languish 
in despair? No: for Jesus has said, ^^ Ilii^ipY the peace-ma kersy 
for they shall be called sons of GodJ' But who can make peace 
when all the elements are at war? Who so enthusiastic as to 
fancy that he can stem the torrent of strife or quench the violence 
of sectarian fire? But the page of universal history whispers in 
our ears, "If you tarry till all the belligerent armies lay down 
their arms and make one spontaneous and simultaneous effort to 
unite, you will be as very a simpleton as he that sat by the Eu- 
phrates waiting till all its waters ran into the sea.^^ 

AVe are so sanguine — perhaps many will say, so visionary — as 
to imagine that a nucleus has been formed, or may be formed, 
around Avhich may one day congregate all the children of God. 
No one, at all events, can say that it is either impious or immoral 
— that it is inhuman or unchristian — to think about the present 
state of Christ's kingdom, or to meditate upon the possibility or 
practicability of any scheme of gathering together the children 
of God under the ensign of the Cross alone. No one can say that 
such an enterprise is absolutely chimerical, unless he affirms the 
negative of the Messiah's proposition, and declares that the pre- 
sent Avars and strifes must extend and multiply through all time, 
and that God will convert the whole world without ansicering the 
'prayer of Mr Son; or, rather, on a plan adverse to that promul- 
gated by him, and in despite of all the moral desolations which 
have ensued upon all the broils and battles of five hundred sects 
and fifteen hundred years ! 

Dare any one say, or even think it unphilanthropic or malevo- 
lent to make an effort to rally the broken phalanxes of Zion's 
King, and to attempt to induce them to turn their arms from one 
another against the common foe? With such a one it were worse 
than hopeless to reason, or to exchange a single argument. Shall 
we not rather esteem it to be the most honorable, acceptable, and 
praiseworthy enterprise that can be dared or undertaken by 
mortal man on this earthly stage of action ? And, as God has ever 
effected the most splendid revolutions by the most humble agents, 
and by means the most unlikely in the wisdom of all human 



THE CIIRTSTIAN SYSTEM. 10? 

schools, we think it not amiss or incongruous to make an effort, 
and to put our hands to the work of peace and love. 

From Messiah's intercession above quoted, it is incontrovertible 
that union is strength, and disunion weakness ; that there is a 
plan founded in infinite wisdom and love, by which, and by 
which alone, the world may both believe and know that God has 
sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world ; and, like all the 
schemes of Heaven, it is simple to admiration. No mortal need 
fancy that he shall have the honor of devising either the plan of 
uniting Christians in one hoi}' band of zealous co-operation, or of 
converting Jews and Gentiles to the faith that Jesus is that seed 
in whom all the families of the earth are yet to be blessed. The 
plan is divine. It is ordained by God ; and, better still, it is 
already revealed. Is any one impatient to hear it? Let him 
again read the intercessions of the Lord Messiah, which we have 
chosen for our motto. Let him then examine the two following 
propositions, and say whether these do not express Heaven's own 
scheme of augmenting and conservating the body of Christ. 

1st. Nothing is essential to the conversion of the tvorld but the 
union and co-operaUon of Christians. 

2d. Nothing is essential to the union of Christians but the Apos' 
tles^ teaching or testimony. 

Or does he choose to express the plan of the Self-Existent iu 
other words ? Then he may change the order, and say — 

1st. The testimony of the Apostles is the only and all-snfficient 
means of uniting all Christians. 

2d. The union of Christians icith the Apostles^ testimony, is all- 
sufficient and alone sufficient to tlie conversion of the world. 

Neither truth alone nor union alone is sufficient to subdue the 
unbelieving nations ; but truth and union combined are omnipo« 
tent. They are omnipotent, for God is in them and with them, 
and has consecrated and blessed them for this very purpose. 

These two propositions have been stated, illustrated, developed, 
(and shall I say proved?) in the "Christian Baptist,^' and "Mil- 
lennial Harbinger,^' to the conviction of thousands. Indeed, one 
of them is as universally conceded as it has been proposed, viz.: 
That the union of Christians is essential to the conversion of the 
icorld; and though, perhaps, some might be found Avho would 
qu(istion whether, if all Christians were united, the whole world 
could be converted to God ; there is no pcrstm, of whom we have 
heard, who admits a general or universal prevalence of the gospel, 
in what is usually called the millennial ago of the world, and 



108 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

who admits tLv^t moral means will have any thing to do with ica 
introduction, who does not also admit that the union of Christians 
is essential to that state of things. Indeed, to suppose that all 
Christians will form one communion in that happy age of the 
world, and not before it, is to suppose a moral effect without a 
cause. 

The second proposition, viz. : That the word or testimony of the 
Apostles is itself all-sufficient and alone sufficient to the union of all 
Christians, cannot be rationally doubted by any person acquainted 
with that testimony, or who admits the competency of their in- 
spiration to make them infallible teachers of the Christian insti- 
tution. And, indeed, all who contend for those human institutions 
called creeds contend for them as necessary only to the existence 
of a party, or while the present schisms, contentions, and dissen- 
sions exist. Therefore, all the defences of creeds, ancient and 
modern, while they assert that the Bible alone is the only perfect 
and infallible rule of faith and morals, not only concede that 
these symbols called creeds are imperfect and fallible, but also 
that these creeds never can achieve what the Bible, without them, 
can accomplish. 

But how to do without them appears to be an insuperable diffi- 
culty to many well-disposed Christians. To labor this point 
would be foreign to our present purpose ; especially as it has 
already been fully discussed in the present controversy.* 

It is, perhaps, altogether sufficient at present to propose the 
question, How has what is called the church done with them? 
Have they not been the fruitful cause or occasion of all the dis- 
cords, schisms, and parties now existing in Christendom? And 
w^ill not a very superficial observation and a little experience 
convince ever}^ uian that the rivers tend not more certainl}^ to the 
sea, than creeds and human devices in religion tend to discords 
and divisions ? Take, for example, two of the most popular creeds 
of the present day — the A'Testminster, and that of the Methodists, 
with whose history American society is better acquainted than 
with that of any other, and test the tree by its fruits — judge their 
tendency by their practical effects upon societ}^ To say nothing 
of the lesser schisms in the party that once formed one commu- 
nion on the platform of the Westminster creed, w^e can now enu- 
merate no less than nine separate communions, all professing the 
Westminster Articles in substance or in form. These are thta 

• Christian Baptist, vol. ii. pp. 66, C7. — Essays on the Westminster Creed, vol 
ii. — Kevifcjw of Dr. JN'oel's Circular, vol. v. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 109 

General Assembly in Scotland and the United States, the Ca- 
meronians or Solemn League and Covenant Presbyterians, the 
Burghers or Unionists, the Anti-Burghers or Seceders, the Relief 
Presbyterians, the Cumberland Presbyterians, and the New 
School, now upon the eve of being born. To these might be 
added those called English Presbyterians, who are now more 
generally known by the name of Independents and Congregation- 
aiists ; and, indeed, the Glassites or Sandemanians, who came out 
of the Synod of Angus and Mearns in the year 1728. Thus, in 
one hundred and ninety years have nine or ten distinct commu- 
nions originated out of the Westminster creed, — some of them, 
too, as discordant and aloof from each other as were the Jews 
and Samaritans. 

Nor have the Methodists in England, Canada, and the United 
States done much better for their age. They now form five or 
six separate communions, under different names. To say nothing 
of the Whitefieldite Methodists, those of John Wesley are — the 
AVesleyan Methodists, the New Connection of Methodists, the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, the O'Kelly Methodists, the Pro- 
testants, &c. 

And what shall I say of the twelve or fourteen sects of Baptists, 
many of whom have as much affection for the Greek and Roman 
church as for one another? It were useless to furnish other evi- 
dence in proof that human opinions, inferential reasonings, and 
deductions from the Bible, exhibited in the form of creeds, can 
never unite Christians ; as all their fruits are alienation, repulsion, 
bickering, and schism. No human creed in Protestant Christendom 
can be found that has not inade a division for every generation of its 
existence. And I may add, the more thinking, inquisitive, and 
intelligent the community which owns a creed, the more irequent 
their debates and schisms. 

But the Bible will do no better if men approach it with a set 
of opinions or a human symbol in their minds. For then it is 
not the Bible, but the opinions in the mind, that form the bond 
of union. Men, indeed, had better have a written than an uH" 
uritten standard of orthodoxy, if they will not abandon speculation 
and abstract notions as any part of Christian faith or duty. 

But all these modes of faith and worship are based upon a 
mistake of the true character of Revelation, which it has long 
been our effort to correct. With us Revelation has nothing to do 
with opinions or abstract reasonings; for it is founded wholly and 
on ti rely upon Jiacts, There is not one abstract opinion, not ono 



110 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

speculative view, asserted or communicated in Old Testament or 
Kew. Moses begins with asserting facts that had transpired in 
creation and providence ; and John ends with asserting prophetic 
or prospective facts in the future displays of providence and re- 
demption. Facts, then, are the alpha and the omega of both 
Jewish and Christian revelations. 

But that the reader may have before his mind in one summary 
view the whole scheme of union and co-operation, which the 
Living Oracles and the present state of the Christian religion in 
the world demand ; which has been, at diflferent times and in 
various manners, illustrated and sustained, in the present contro- 
versy, against divisions, — we shall here submit it in one period. 

Let THE Bible he substituted for all liuvian creeds; facts, for 
definitions ; things, for ivords ; faith, for specidation ; unity of 
FAITH, for unity of opinion ; the positive commandments of god, 
for human legislation and tradition: piety, for ceremony ; moral- 
ity, ,/o?' partisan zeal ; the practice of religion, for the mere 
profession of it: and the work is done. 

For the illustration of the leading terms, and their correlates 
found in this project, and for a full development of our meaning, 
(as Ave may not be understood if interpreted by the polemic 
vocabulary of this age,) we shall introduce some extracts from the 
Christian Baptist and Millennial Harbinger, developing our mean- 
ing, and containing some of the capital positions which have been 
fully elicited and canvassed in a controversy of twelve ^^ears. 

FACT. 

Fact means something done. The term deed, so common in the 
reign of James I., is equivalent to our term fact. Truth and fact, 
though often confounded, are not the same. All facts are truths, 
but all truths are not facts. That God exists is a truth, but not a 
fact ; that he created the heavens and the earth is a fact and a 
truth. That Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles is a truth, but 
not a fact ; and that he preached Christ to the Gentiles is both a 
fact and a truth. The simple agreement of the terms of any pro- 
position with the subject of that proposition, or the representation 
of any thing as it exists, is a truth. But something must be 
done or elTected before we have a fxct. There are many things true 
in religion, morals, politics, and general science, which are not 
facts ; but these are all but the correspondence of words and ideas 
with the things of which they treat. 

Facts have a power which logical truth has not ; and therefore 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. Ill 

we say that facts are stubborn things. They are things, not 
words. The power of any fact is the meaning ; and therefore the 
measure of its power is the magnitude of its import. All moral 
facts have a moral meaning; and those are properly called moral 
facts which either exhibit, develop, or form moral character. 
All those facts, or works of God, which are purely physical, ex" 
hibit what have been commonly called his natural or physical 
perfections ; and all those facts or works of God, which are purely 
moral, exhibit his moral character. It so happens, hoAvever, that 
all his works, when properly understood, exhibit both his physical 
and moral character, Avhen viewed in all their proper relations. 
Thus, the deluge exhibited his power, his justice, and his truth ; 
and therefore displayed both his physical and moral grandeur. 
The turning of water into wine, apart from its design, is purely a 
demonstration of physical power; but, when its design is appre- 
hended, it has a moral force equal to its physical majesty. 

The work of redemption is a system of works, or deeds, on the 
part of Heaven, which constitute the most splendid series of moral 
facts which man or angel ever saw. And they are the proof, the 
argument, or the demonstration, of that regenerating proposition 
which presents God and Love as two names for one idea. 

When these facts are understood, or brought into immediate 
contact with the mind of man, as a moral seal or archetype, they 
delineate the image of God upon the human soul. All the means 
of grace are, therefore, only the means of impressing this seal upon 
the heart, — of bringing these moral facts to make their full impres- 
sion on the soul of man. Testimony and faith are but the channel 
through which these facts, or the hand of God, draws the image 
on the heart and character of man. If, then, the fact and the testi- 
mony are both the gift of God, we mcy well say that faith and 
eternal life are also the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 

To enumerate the gospel facts would be to narrate all that is 
recorded of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ from his birth 
to his coronation in the heavens. They are, however, concen* 
trated in a few prominent ones, which group together all the love 
of God in the gift of his Son. He died for our sins — he was* 
buried in the grave — he rose from the dead for our justification-- 
and is ascended to the skies to prepare mansions for his disciples-- 
comprehend the whole, or are the heads of the chapters which. 
narratje the love of God and display his moral majesty and glory 
to our view. 



112 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 

These moral facts unfold all the moral grandeur of Jehovah, 
and make Jesus the effulgence of his glory, the express image of 
his substance. These are the moral seal which testimony convej-s 
to the understanding, iiwdi faith brings to the hearts of sinners, by 
which God creates theui anew and forms them for his glory. It 
is the Spirit which bears witness — the Spirit of God and of Christ 
which gives the testimony and confirms it in the disciples. But 
let us next proceed to testimony, 

TESTIMONY. 

The Romans, from whom we have borrowed much of our lan« 
guage, called the witness the testis. The declaration of this testis 
is still called testimony. In reference to the material system 
around us, to all objects and matters of sense, the eye, the ear, 
the smell, the taste, the feeling, are the five witnesses. What 
we call the evidence of sense, is, therefore, the testimony of these 
witnesses, which constitute the five avenues to the human mind 
from the kingdom of nature. They are figuratively called wit- 
nesses, and their evidence testimony. But the report or declaration 
of intelligent beings, such as God, angels, and men, constitute 
what is properly and literally called testimony. 

As light reflected from any material object upon the eye brings 
that object into contact with the eye, or enables the object to 
make its image on the eye ; so testimony concerning any fact 
brings that fact into contact with the mind, and enables it tt> 
impress itself or to form its image upon the intellect or mind of 
man. Now, be it observed, that, as by our five external senses 
we acquire all information of the objects of sense around us ; so 
by testimony, human or divine, Ave receive all our information 
upon all facts which are not the objects of immediate exercise 
of our five senses upon the things around us. 

To appreciate the full value of testimony in the divine work 
of regeneration, we have only to reflect that all the moral facts 
which can form moral character, after the divine model, or which 
can effect a moral or religious change in man, are found in the 
testimony of God ; and that no fact can operate at all where it is 
not present, or where it is not known. The love of God in the 
death of the Messiah never drew a tear of gratitude or joy from 
any eye, or excited a grateful emotion in any heart among the 
nations of our race to whom the testimony never came. No fact 
in the history of six thousand ye irs, no work of God in creation, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 113 

pn^vidence, or redemption, has ever influenced the heart of man 
or woman to whom it has not been testified. Testimony is, then, 
in regeneration, as necessary as the facts of which it speaks. 

The real value of any thing is the labor which it cost, and its 
utility when acquired. If reason and justice arbitrated all jues- 
tions upon the value of property, the decision would be, that 
ever}^ article is worth the amount of human labor w^hich is neces- 
sary to obtain it; and when obtained it is again to be tried in the 
3calcs of utility. Now, as all the facts and all the truth whi;h 
can renovate human nature are in the testimony of God, and as 
that testimony cost the labor and the lives of the wisest and best 
that ever lived, that testimony, to us, is just as valuable as the 
facts which it records and the labors and the lives which it cost, 
and just as indispensable in the process of regeneration as were 
the labors and the lives of Prophets, Apostles, and the Son of 
God. 

History, or narrative, whether oral or written, is only another 
name for testimony. When, then, we reflect how large a portion 
of both Testaments is occupied in history, w^e may judge of how 
much importance it is in the judgments of God. Prophecy, also, 
being the history of future facts, or a record of things to be done, 
belongs to the same chapter of facts and record. Now, if all past 
facts and all future facts, or all the history or testimony concern- 
ing them, were erased from the volumes of God's inspiration, how 
small would the remainder be! These considerations, added to- 
gether, only in part exhibit the value and utility of testimony in 
the regeneration of mankind. But its value will be still more 
evident when the proper import of the term faith is fully set 
before us. 

FAITH. 

iVb testimony, nofaitli: for faith is only the belief of testimony, 
or confidence in testimony as true. To believe without testimony 
is just as impossible as to see without light. The measure, 
quality, and power of faith, are always found in the testimony 
I slieved. 

Where testimony begins, faith begins ; and where testimony 
!nds, faith ends. We believe Moses just as far as Moses speaks 
)r writes ; and wdien Moses has recorded his last fact, or testified 
his last truth, our faith in Moses terminates. His five books are, 
therefore, the length and breadth, the height and depth, df, in 

10* 



114 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

other words, the measure, of our faith in Moses. The qaaUty oi 
value of faith is found in the quality or value of the testimony. 
If the testimony be valid and authoritative, our faith is strong 
and operative. ** If,'' says John, " we receive the testimony of 
men, the testimony of God is greater,'^ — stronger and more worthy 
of credit. The value of a bank-bill is the amount of the precious 
metals which it represents, and the indisputable evidence of its 
genuineness ; so the value of faith is the importance of the facts 
which the testimony presents, and the assurance afforded that the 
testimony is true. True or unfeigned faith may be contrasted with 
feigned faith ; but true faith is the belief of truth ; for he that be- 
lieves a lie believes in vain. 

T\\e power of faith is also the power or moral meaning of the 
testimony, or of the f\icts which the testimony represents. If by 
faith I am transported with joy, or overwhelmed in sorrow, that 
joy or sorrow is in the facts contained in the testimony, or in the 
nature and relation of those fiicts to me. If faith purifies the 
heart, works by love, and overcomes the world, this power is in 
the facts believed. If a father has more joy in believing that a 
lost son has been found, than in believing that a lost sheep has 
been brought home to his fold, the reason of this greater joy is 
not in the nature of his believing, but in the nature of the facts 
believed. 

Here I am led to expatiate on a very popular and pernicious 
error of modern times. That error is, that the nature or power 
and saving efificacy of faith is not in the truth believed, but in the 
nature of our faith, or in the manner of believing the truth. Hence 
all that unmeaning jargon about the nature of faith, and all those 
disdainful sneers at what is called "historic ftiith" — as if there 
could be any faith without history, written or spoken. Who ever 
believed in Christ without hearing the history of him ? ^'How 
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard f^ Faith 
never can be more than the receiving of testimony as true, or the 
belief of testimony ; and if that testimony be written it is called 
history, though it is as much history when flowing from the 
tongue as when flowing from the pen. 

Let it be again repeated and remembered that there is no other 
manner of believing a fact than as receiving it as true. If it is 
not received as true, it is not believed; and, when it is believed, it 
is no more than regarded as true. This being conceded, then il 
follows that the efficacy of faith is always in the fact believed or 
the object received, and not in the nature or manner of believing 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 115 

"Faith was bewilder d much by men who meant 
To make it clear, so simple in itself. 
A thought so rudimental and so plain, 
That none by comment could it plainer make. 
All faith was one. In object, not in kind, 
The difference lay. The fitith that saved a soul, 
And that which in the common truth believed, 
In essence were the same. Hear, then, what faith, 
True Christian foith, which brought salvation, was: 
Belief in all that God reveal'd to men ; 
Observe: — in all that God reveal'd to men 
In all he promised, threaten'd, commanded, said. 
Without exception, and without a doubt."* 

This holds universally in all the sensitive, intellectual, and 
moral powers o-f man. All our pleasures and pains, all our joys 
and sorrows, are the effects of the objects of sensation, reflection, 
faith, &c. appreliended or received, and not in the nature of the 
exercise of any power or capacity with which we are endowed. 
We shall illustrate and confirm this assertion by an appeal to the 
experience of all. 

Let us glance at all our sensitive powers. If, on surveying 
-with the eye a beautiful landscape, I am pleased, and on survey- 
ing a battle-field strewed with the spoils of death, I am pained, — 
is it in accordance with truth to say, that the pleasure or the pain 
received was occasioned b}^ the nature of vision, or the mode of 
seeing? Was it not the sight, the thing seen, the object of vision, 
which produced the pleasure and the pain? The action of look- 
ing, or the mode of seeing, was in both cases the same; but the 
things seen, or the objects of vision, w^ere different: consequently 
the effects produced were different. 

If on hearing the melody of the grove I am delighted, and on 
hearing the peals of thunder breaking to pieces the cloud, dark 
with horror, hanging over my head, I am terrified, — is the delight 
or the terror to be ascribed to the manner or nature of hearing, 
or to the thing heard ? Is it not the thing heard which produces 
the delight or the terror? 

If I am refreshed by the balmy fragrance of the opening bloom 
of spring, or sickened by the fetid effluvia of putrid carcasses,-- 
are these effects to be ascribed to the peculiar nature or mode of 
smelling, or to the thing smelt? Or when the honey and the gall 
come in contact with my taste, is the sweet or the bitter to be 
regarded as the effect of my manner of tasting, or of the object 
tasted ? And when I touch the ice, or the blazing torch, is the 
effect or feeling produced to be imputed to the manner of feeling 

* Pollok's Course of Time, book viii. page 189. 



116 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

them, or to the thing felt? May we not, then, affirm that all thu 
pleasures and pains of sense — all the effects of sensation — are the 
results, not of the manner in which our five senses are exercised, 
but of the objects on \Yhich they are exercised? It may be said, 
without in the least invalidating this conclusion, that the more 
intimate the exercise of our senses is Avith the things on Avhich 
they are exercised, the stronger and more forcible will be the 
impressions made ; but still it is the object seen, heard, smelt, 
tasted, or felt, which affects us. 

Passiuii: from the outward to the iuAvard man, and on examinino; 
the powers of intellection one by one, we shall find no exception 
to the law which pervades all our sensitive powers. It is neither 
the faculty of perception, nor the manner of perception, but the 
thing perceived, that excites us to action : it is not the exercise 
of reflection, but the thing reflected upon : it is not memory, nor 
the exercise of recollection, but the thing remembered : it is not 
imagination, but the thing imagined: it is not reason itself, nor 
the exercise of reason, but the thing reasoned upon, which affords 
pleasure or pain — Avhich excites to action — which cheers, allures, 
consoles — which grieves, disquiets, or discommodes us. 

Ascending to our volitions and our affections, we shall find the 
same universality. In a word, it is not choosing, nor refusing; 
it is not loving, hating, fearing, desiring, nor hoping; it is not the 
nature of any power, fiiculty, or capacity of our being, nor the 
simple exercise of them, but the objects or things upon which 
they are exercised, which give us pleasure or pain; which induce 
us to action, or influence our behavior. Faith, then, or the power 
of believing, must be an anomalous thing — a power sui generis — 
an exception to the laws under which every power, faculty, or ca- 
pacity of man is placed, unless its measure, quality, power and 
efficacy be in the facts which are testified, in the objects on which 
it terminates. 

There is no connection of cause and effect more intimate — there 
is no system of dependencies more closely linked — there is no 
arrangement of things more natural or necessary, than the ideas 
represented by the terms fact, testimony, faith and feeling. The 
first is for the last, and the two intermediates are made necessary 
by the force of circumstances, as the means for the end. The 
fact, or the thing said to be done, produces the change in the 
frame of mind. The testimony, or the report of the thing said 
or done, is essential to belief; and belief of it is necessary to 
bring the thing^ said or done to the heart. The change of heart 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 117 

is the end proposed in this part of the process of regeneration ; 
and we may see that the process on the part of Heaven is, thus 
far, natural and rational ; or, in other words, consistent with the 
constitution of our nature."^ 

CONFIRMATION OF THE TESTIMONY. 

All revealed religion is based upon facts. Testimony has re- 
spect to facts onl}^ ; and that testimony may be credible, it must 
be confirmed. These points are of so much importance as to de- 
serve some illustration, and much consideration. By fads we 
always mean son^ething said or done. The works of God and 
the words of God, or the things done or spoken by God, are those 
facts which arf) laid down and exhibited in the Bible as the foun- 
dation of all faith, hope, love, piety, and humanity. All true 
and useful knowledge is an acquaintance with facts ; and all true 
science is acquired from the observation and comparison of facts. 
But he that made the heart of man and gave him an intelligent 
spirit knows that facts alone can move the affections and com- 
mand the passions of man. Hence the scheme of mercy which 
he has discovered to the world is all contained in, and developed 
by, the icorks of mercy which he has wrought. 

Facts have a meaning which the understanding apprehends, 
and the heart feels. According to the meaning or nature of the 
fact is its effect upon us. If a friend have risked his life or 
sacrificed his reputation or fortune to relieve us, we cannot but 
confide in him and love him. If an enemy have attempted our 
life, invaded our property, or attacked our reputation, we cannot, 
naturally, but hate him. Nothing but the command of a bene- 
factor, or the will of some dear friend who has laid us under 
obligation to himself, can prevent us from hating our enemies. 
If a beloved relative have sustained some great misfortune, we 
must feel sorry ; or if he have been rescued from some impending 
calamity, we must feel glad. Our joy in the latter case, and our 
sorrow in the former, arise from the meaning or nature of the 
fact. The feelings corresponding with the nature of the fact are 
excited or called into existence the moment the fact is known or 
believed. It is knoivn when we have witnessed it ourselves, and 
it is believed when reported to us by credible persons who have 
witnessed it. This is the chief difference between fiiith and 
knowledge. 

* Millennial Ilarbiuger, Extra, No. 6, pp. 340-345. 



118 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

As existences or beings must precede knowledge, so facts 
must precede either knowledge or belief. An event must happen 
before it can be known by man — it must be knoAvn by some be- 
fore it can be reported to others — it must be reported before it can 
be believed — and the testimony must be confirmed or made 
credible before it can be relied on. 

Something must be done before it can be known, reported, cr 
believed. Hence, in the order of nature, there is first the fact : 
then the testimony ; and then the belief. A was drowned before 
B reported it — B reported it before C believed it — and believed 
it before he was grieved at it. This is the unchangeable and 
universal order of things as respects belief In this example, 
when we reason from efi'ect to cause, it is grief, belief, testimony, 
fact; and from cause to efi'ect, it is fact, testimony, belief , grief 
AVe ascend from grief to belief — from belief to testimony — from 
testimony to fixct. We descend from fact to testimon}^ — from 
testimony to belief — and from belief to grief. To this there is 
no exception, more than against the universality of the law of 
gravity. If, then, there was nothing said or done, there could be 
no testimony, and so no faith, licligious aff'ections spring from 
faith, and therefore it is of importance that this subject should be 
disintricated from the mysticism of the schools. 

Laws call for obedience, and testimony for belief. Where 
there is no law there can be no obedience, and when there is no 
testimony there can be no faith. As obedience cannot transcend 
law, so faith cannot transcend testimony. John's testimony 
went to so many facts. On his testimony we can believe only as 
far as he has testified ; and so of all the other witnesses. The 
certainty of faith depends upon the certainty or credibility of the 
witnesses. But not so its eff'ects. The effects depend upon the 
facts believed — the certainty upon the evidence. I may be equally 
certain that John was beheaded — that Jesus was crucified. Nay, 
I may be as certain of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem as I am 
of his death on Calvary. The testimony may be equally credible* 
and the faith equally strong ; but the effects produced are not 
the same. The facts believed have not the same meaning, are 
not of the same nature, and do not produce the same feelings or 
eff'ects. I may be as certain of the assassination of Caesar in the 
Senate-House as I am of the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary; 
but, as the facts believed are as diverse in their nature, meaning, 
and bearings upon me, as the East and the West, so the eff'ects or 
fruits of my faith are as diff'erent as Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 119 

The more ordinary the fact, the more ordinary the testimony 
necessary to establish it. That A B, aged 90, and confined for 
8ome time with sickness, died last night, requires only the most 
ordinary testimony to render it credible. But that C D lived to 
140, enjo3Mng unabated vigor of mind and body, requires stronger 
testimony. But still, all facts happening in accordance with the 
ordinary and natural laws of things require but good human 
testimony to make them worthy of credence. It is only extra- 
ordinary and supernatural facts which require supernatural testi- 
mony, or testimony supernaturally confirmed. This is the point 
to which we have been looking in this essay. And, now that we 
have arrived at it, I would ask. How lias the testimony of the 
Apostles and Evangelists been confirmed f 

To confirm a testimony is neither more nor less than to make it 
credible to those to whom it is tendered ; or, to express the same 
idea in other words, it is to give men power to believe. Now, it 
will not require the same amount of evidence to persuade an 
astronomer that the earth's shadow struck the moon last eclipse, 
as itf would to convince an Indian; nor it would not require the 
same amount of evidence to convince a chemist that combustion 
was effected by pouring water on a certain composition of mineral 
substances, as it would an unlettered swain. To make any testi- 
mony credible to any order of beings, regard must therefore be 
had to the capacity, attainments, and habits of those beings. To 
confirm the testimony of the Apostles concerning the Messiah's 
death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and coronation as the 
Lord and King of the Universe, imports no more nor no less than 
that it should be rendered everyway credible to such beings as 
we are, or that we should be made able to believe it. A testi- 
mony confirm^d^ and jet incredible to those to whom it is tendered, 
is a contradiction in terms. But why emphasize on the word 
confirmed? Because the holy Apostles have emphasized upon it. 
It is therefore necessary that we should pay a due regard to the 
confirmation of the testimony. The testimony is one thing, and 
the confirmation is another. It is necessary, in all important 
occasions in human affairs, that the testimony which is received 
between man and man should be confirmed by some sanction. 
Hence an oath for confirmation of testimony is an end of all strife. 
The highest confirmation which men require in all questions 
of fact is a solemn oath or afl&rmation that the things affirmed 
are true. 

But supernatural facts require supernatural confirmations. 



J 20 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Hence, when the confirmation of the gospel is spoken of in tnc 
apostolic writings, it is resolved into the doings or works of the 
IIolj Spirit. *• Demonstrations of the Holy Spirit'^ are the con- 
firmatory proofs of the gospel. AVhen Paul delivered the testi- 
mony of God, or the testimony concerning Jesus, to the Corinth- 
ians, he says, "i^ icas coiifirmed among ihemr And if we 
examine into the confirmation of the testimony as Paul explained 
it, we shall find that he makes the spiritual gifts, or those extra- 
5>rdinary and miraculous powers which the Apostles themselves 
displayed, and which so many of their converts also possessed, an 
assurance or confirmation of what he promulged. 

AVe shall only attend to the light which one of his epistles to 
the Corinthians throws upon this subject. After thanking his 
God fur the favor bestowed upon the disciples of Corinth when 
he first visited them, he proceeds to specify the special favors 
bestowed upon the disciples in that renowned city. " You were 
enriched (says he, chapter i. ver. 5) with every gift by him, evesi 
with all speech and all knowledge when the testimony of Christ 
was confirmed among you : so that you come behind in no g*ftJ^ 
*' There are diversities of gifts, (says he, chapter xii.) for to one 
disciple is given ilie word of loisdom ; to another, the v^ord of 
knowledge; to another, yc^iVA, {to be healed;) to f\rioi\\Q\\ ike gift 
of healing ; to another, the ability of working in others the poicer 
of working miracles ; to another, prophecy ; to another, discerning 
of spirits ; to another, divers kinds of foreign tongues; and to an- 
other, the interpretation of foreign tongues J^ Now, the Corinth- 
ians were put in possession of these (for they came behind in 
no gift) " when the testimony of Christ was confirmed among 
them/^ *'For,^' says Paul, *' I cam.e not to you w^ith the excel- 
lency of speech, or the persuasive eloquence of the schools, but 
with the demonstration of the Spirit and of powder ; that your 
belief of my testimony, or your faith, might not rest or be 
founded upon human wisdom or eloquence ; but upon the power 
of God evinced in the demonstrations of the Spirit which con- 
firmed my testimony among you.'' For had it not been for these 
demonstrations of the Spirit and of power, your faith could not 
have rested upon an immovable basis. 

To those desirous to understand this subject, an examination 
of this first letter to the Corinthians cannot fail to be most in- 
structive ; for it most clearly and unequivocally teaches us that 
the visible, audible, sensible demonstration of the Spirit and of 
power was that supernatural attestation of the testimony of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 121 

Christ which made it credible, so that no man could have ac» 
knowledged Jesus of Nazareth to be the Almighty Lord, but by 
this demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Thus was the testimony 
confirmed — thus was Jesus demonstrated to be the only-begotten 
Son of God — and thus, and thus only, are men enabled to believe 
in him.^ 



FUNDAMENTAL FACT.f 

Amidst the uncertainty, darkness, and vice, that overspread 
the earth, the Messiah appears, and lays the foundation of hope, 
of true religion, and of religious union, unknown, unheard-of, un- 
expected among men. The Jews were united by consanguinity, 
and by agreement in a ponderous ritual. The Gentiles rallied 
under every opinion, and were grouped, like filings of steel around 
a magnet, under every possible shade of difierence of thought, 
concerning their mythology. So long as union of opinion was 
regarded as a proper basis of religious union, so long have man- 
kind been distracted by the multiplicity and variety of opinions. 
To establish what is called a system of orthodox opinions as the 
bond of union was, in fact, offering a premium for new diversi- 
ties in opinion, and for increasing, ad injimtum, opinions, sects, 
and divisions. And, what is worse than all, it was establishing 
self-love and pride as religious principles, as fundamental to sal- 
vation ; for a love regulated by similarity of opinion is only a love 
to one's own opinion ; and all the zeal exhibited in the defence of 
it is but the workings of the pride of opinion. 

When the Messiah appeared as the founder of a new religion, 
systems of religion consisting of opinions and speculations upon 
matter and mind, upon God and nature, upon virtue and vice, had 
been adopted, improved, reformed, and exploded, time after time 
That there was always something superfluous, something de- 
fective; something wrong, something that could be improved, in 
every system of religion and morality, was generally felt, and at 
last universally acknowledged. But the grandeur, sublimity, and 
beauty of the foundation of hope, and of ecclesiastical or social 
union, established by the author and founder of Christianity, 

* Millennial Harbinger, vol. i. pp. 8-12. 

f The fundamental proposition is — that Jesus is the Christ. The fact, however, con- 
tained in this proposition is — that God has anointed Jesus of Nazareth as the only- 
Saviour of sinners. He is the promised Christ: "God has constituted him Lord and 
Christ."— Peter. 

11 



122 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

consisted in this, — that the belief of one fact, and that upon 
the best evidence in the ivorld, is all that is regijdsite, as far as faith 
goeSj to salvation. The belief of this one fact, and submission to 
one institution expressive of it, is all that is required of Heaven 
to admission into the church. A Christian, as defined, not by Br. 
Johnson, nor any creed-maker, but by one taught from Heaven, 
is one that believes this one fact, and has submitted to one institU' 
Hon, and whose deportment accords with the morality and virtue 
of the great Prophet. The one fact is expressed in a single pro- 
position — that Jesus the Nazarene is the Messiah. The evidence 
upon which it is to be believed is the testimony of twelve men, 
confirmed by prophecy, miracles, and spiritual gifts. The ont 
institution is baptism into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit. Every such person is a disciple in the 
fullest sense of the word, the moment he has believed this one 
fact, upon the above evidence, and has submitted to the above- 
mentioned institution ; and whether he believes the five points 
condemned, or the five points approved, by the Synod of Dort, is 
not so much as to be asked of him ; whether he holds any of the 
views of the Calvinists or Arminians, Presbyterians, Episcopa- 
lians, Methodists, Baptists, or Quakers, is never once to be asked 
of such persons, in order to admission into the Christian com- 
munity called the church. The only doubt that can reasonably 
arise upon these points is, whether this one fact, in its nature and 
necessary results, can suffice to the salvation of the soul, and 
whether the open avowal of it, in the overt act of baptism, can 
be a sufficient recommendation of the person so professing to the 
confidence and love of the brotherhood. As to the first of these, 
it is again and again asserted, in the clearest language, by the 
Lord himself, the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John, that he that 
believes the testimony that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by 
God, may overcome the world, has eternal life, and is, on the 
veracity of God, saved from his sins. This should settle the first 
point; for the witnesses agree that whosoever confesses that 
Jesus is the Christ, and is baptized, should be received into the 
church; and not an instance can be produced of any person being 
asked for any other faith, in order to admission, in the whole 
New Testament. The Saviour expressly declared to Peter that 
upon this fact, that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, he 
would build his church; and Paul has expressly declared that 
"other foundation can no man lay (for ecclesiastical union) than 
that Jesus is the Christ." Tha point is proved that we have 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 123 

assumed; and, this proved, every thing is established requisite to 
the union of all Christians upon a proper basis. 

It must strike every man of reflection, that a religion requiring 
much mental abstraction or exquisite refinement of thought, or 
that calls for the comprehension or even apprehension of refined 
distinctions and of nice subtleties, is a religion not suited to man- 
kind in their present circumstances. To present such a creed as 
the Westminster, as adopted either by Baptists or Pedobaptists, 
such a creed as the Episcopalian, or, in fact, any sectarian creed, 
composed, as they all are, of propositions deduced by logical in- 
ferences and couched in philosophical language, to all those who 
are fit subjects of the salvation of heaven, — I say, to present such 
a creed to such for their examination or adoption shocks all com- 
mon sense. This pernicious course is what has paganized Chris- 
tianity. Our sects and parties, our disputes and speculations, 
our orders and castes, so much resemble any thing but Chris- 
tianity, that when we enter a modern synagogue, or an ecclesias- 
tical council, we seem rather to have entered a Jewish sanhedrim, 
a Mohammedan mosque, a Pagan temple, or an Egyptian cloister, 
than a Christian congregation. Sometimes, indeed, our religious 
meetings so resemble the Areopagus, the Forum, or the Senate, 
that we almost suppose ourselves to have been translated to 
Athens or Rome. Even Christian orators emulate Demosthenes 
and Cicero. Christian doctrines are made to assume the garb of 
Egyptian mysteries, and Christian observances put on the pomp 
and pageantry of pagan ceremonies. Unity of opinion, expressed 
in subscription to voluminous dogmas imported from Geneva, 
Westminster, Edinburgh, or Rome, is made the bond of union; 
and a difi'erence in the tenth or ten-thousandth shade of opinion 
ifrequently becomes the actual cause of dismemberment or expul- 
sion. The New Testament was not designed to occupy the same 
place in theological seminaries that the carcasses of malefactors 
are condemned to occupy in medical halls — first doomed to the 
gibbet, and then to the dissecting-knife of the spiritual anatomist. 
Christianity consists infinitely more in good works than in sound 
opinions; and, while it is a joyful truth, that he that believes and 
is baptized shall be saved, it is equally true that he that says, *I 
know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the 
truth is not in him.^'^ 

* Chi-istian Baptist, vol. i. pp. 167-169. 



124 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



PURITY OF SPEECH. 



If I were to classify in three chapters the whole Christian in* 
stitution, after the fashion of the modern schools, for the sake of 
being understood, I would designate them Christian faith, Chris- 
tian worship, and Christian morality. To these the moderns have 
added two others, which, using the same license, I would call 
humsLB. philosophy and human traditions. Now, in the first chap- 
ter, we and all Christians are agreed: for as Christian faith has 
respect to the matters of fact recorded — to the direct testimony of 
God found in the New Testament concerning himself— concern- 
ing his Son and Spirit — concerning mankind — what he has done 
and what he will do — on it there is no debate. I find all confes' 
sions of FAITH, properly so called, like the four Gospels, tell the 
same story so far as matters of fact or faith are concerned. 

In the second chapter we are also agreed, that God is to be 
worshipped through the Mediator — in prayer, in praise, public 
and private — in the ordinances of Christian baptism, the Lord^s 
day, the Lord's supper, and in the devotional study of his word 
and of his works of creation and providence. 

In the third chapter we all acknowledge the same moral code. 
What is morality is confessed and acknowledged by all ; but in 
the practice of it there are great subtractions. 

We repudiate the two remaining chapters as having any place 
in our faith, worship, or morality ; because we think that we have 
discovered that all the divisions in Protestant Christendom — that 
all the partyism, vain jangling, and heresies which have dis- 
graced the Christian profession — have emanated from human 
philosophy and human tradition. It is not faith, nor piety, nor 
morality, but philosophy and tradition, that have alienated and 
estranged Christians, and prevented the conversion of the world. 
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle deserved not the reputation of 
philosophers, if Calvin, Arminius, and Wesley were not worthy 
of it. The former philosophized morally on nature and ancient 
tradition — the latter, on the Bible, and human society. 

Religious philosophers on the Bible have excogitated the fol- 
lOAving doctrines and philosophical distinctions : — 

* The Holy Trinity,' ' Three persons of one substance, power, 
and eternity,' ' Co-essential, co-substantial, co-equal,' ' The Son 
eternally 'oegotten of the Father,' 'An eternal Son,' * Humanity 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 125 

and divinity of Christ/ ^The Holy Ghost eternally proceeding 
from the Father and the Son/ * God's eternal decrees/ 'Condi- 
tional election and reprobation/ 'God out of Christ/ 'Free will/ 
'Liberty and necessity/ 'Original sin/ 'Total depravity/ 'Cove- 
nant of grace/"^ 'Effectual calling/ 'Free grace/ 'Sovereign 
grace/ 'General and particular atonement, 'Satisfy divine jus* 
tice/ 'Common and special operations of the Holy Ghost/ 'Im- 
puted righteousness/ 'Inherent righteousness/ ' Progressive sanc- 
tification/ ' Justifying and saving faith/ ' Historic and temporary 
faith/ 'The direct and reflex acts of faith/ 'The faith of assu- 
rance, and the assurance of faith,^ 'Legal repentance,' 'Evangel- 
ical repentance,' 'Perseverance of the saints/f and 'Falling from 
grace,' J 'Visible and invisible church,' 'Infant membership,' 
'Sacraments,' 'Eucharist,' 'Consubstantiation,' 'Church govern- 
ment,' 'The povrer of the keys,' &c. &c. &c. 

Concerning these and all such doctrines, and all the specula- 
tions to which they have given rise, we have the privilege neither 
to affirm nor deny — neither to believe nor doubt ; because God 
has not proposed them to us in his word, and there is no com- 
mand to believe them. If they are deduced from the Scriptures, 
we have them in the facts and declarations of God's Spirit; if 
they are not deduced from the Bible, we are free from all the dif- 
ficulties and strifes which they have engendered and created. 

We choose to speak of Bible things by Bible icords, because we 
are always suspicious that if the word is not in the Bible, the 
idea which it represents is not there ; and always confident that 
the things taught by God are better taught in the words and un- 
der the names which the Holy Spirit has chosen and appropriated, 
than in the words which man's wisdom teaches. 

There is nothing more essential to the union of the disciples of 
Christ than puriiy of speech. So long as the earth was of one 
speech, the human family was united. Had they been then of a 
pure speech as well as of one speech, they would not have been 
separated. God, in his just indignation, dispersed them ; and be- 
fore he scattered them he divided their language. One of his pro- 
phets, who lived in a degenerate age, who prophesied against the 
corruptions of his day, when he spoke of better times, of an ag3 
of union and communion, was commanded to say, in the name of 
the Lord, "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that 

* f J These are examples of scriptural phrases misapplied ; for the corruption of 
Christianity has been consummated by the incursions of barbarian language, and 
by the new appropriations of the sacred style. 



125 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with 
one consent. ^^"^ Purity of speech is here declared to be prerequisite 
to serving the Lord with one consent. 

" The words of the Lord are pure words/^f To have a pure 
speech we must choose the language of Canaan, and abandon 
that of Ashdod. And if we would be of one mind, we must 
*' speak the same thing.^^ This was PauFs scheme of union, and 
no man can suggest a better. 

It requires but little reflection to discover that the fiercest dis- 
putes about religion are about what the Bible does not say, rather 
than about what it does say — about words and phrases coined in 
the mint of speculative theology. Of these the homoussos and the 
homoousios of the ever-memorable Council of Nice are a fair 
sample. Men are neither wiser, more intelligent, nor better, after, 
than before, they know the meaning of these words. As far as 
known on earth, there is not, in *'the Book of Life of the Lamb 
slain from the foundation of the world, ^^ the name of any person 
who was either converted or sanctified to God by any of these 
controversies about human dogmas, nor by any thing learned from 
the canons or creeds of all the Councils, from that of Nice to the 
last Methodistic Conference. 

It is a virtue, then, to forget this scholastic jargon, and even 
the names of the dogmas which have convulsed Christendom. It 
is a concession due to the crisis in which we live, for the sake of 
peace, to adopt the vocabulary of Heaven, and to return the bor- 
rowed nomenclature of the schools to its rightful owners — to 
speculate no more upon the opinions of Saint Austin, Saint Ter- 
tullian, Saint Origen — to speak of the Father, and the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit — of the gospel, of faith, of repentance, of 
baptism, of election, of the death of Christ, of his mediation, of 
his blood, of the reconciliation, of the Lord's supper, of the 
atonement, of the church of God, &c. &c., in all the phrases 
found in the Record, without partiality — to learn to love one an- 
other as much vrhen w^e differ in opinion as w^hen we agree, and 
to distinguish between the testimony of God, and man^s reason- 
ings and philosophy upon it. 

I need not say much upon the chapter of human traditions. They 
are easily distinguished from the Apostles^ traditions. Those of 
the Apostles are found in their writings, as those of men are 
found in their own books. Some human traditions may have a 
Bhow of wisdom, but it is only an appearance. So long as it is 

* Zephaniah iii. 9. f Psalm xii. 6. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. l27 

vpritten, *' In vaiQ do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the 
commandments of men/' so long will it be presumptuous folly to 
add the commandments of men to the precepts of Jesus Christ. 
I know of but one way in which all the believers in Jesus Christ, 
honorably to themselves, honorably to the Lord, and advan- 
tageously to all the sons of Adam, can form one communion. 
AH have two chapters too many in their present ecclesiastic con- 
stitutions. The contents of the aforesaid two chapters are va- 
rious and different in all the sects, but they all have these two 
chapters under some name. In some they are long, and in some 
they are short ; but, whether long or short, let every one agree to 
tear them out of his book and burn them, and be satisfied with 
faith, piety, and morality. Let human philosophy and human 
tradition, as any part of the Christian institution, be thrown over- 
board into the sea, and then the ship of the church will make a 
prosperous, safe, and happy voyage across the ocean of time, and 
finally, under the triumphant flag of Immanuel, gain a safe 
anchorage in the haven of eternal rest. 

I would appeal to every honorable, good, and loyal citizen of 
the kingdom of Heaven, — to every one that seeks the good of 
Zion, that loves the kingdom and the appearing of our common 
Lord and Saviour, — whether such a concession be not due to the 
Lord, to the saints in heaven and on earth, and to the whole 
human race in the crisis in which we are now placed ; and whether 
we could propose less, or ought to demand more, than to make 
one whole burnt-offering of all our "empty and deceitful philo- 
sophy,'' — our "science, falsely so called/' — and our traditions 
received from our fathers. I would leave it to the good sense of 
every sane mind to say, whether such a whole burnt-offering 
would not be the most acceptable peace-offering which, in this 
our day, could be presented on the altar of the Prince of Peace; 
and whether, under the teachings of the Apostles of the Great 
Prophet, the church might not again triumphantly stand upon the 
holy ground which she so honorably occupied before Origan, 
Austin, Athanasius, or the first pope, was born!* > 

* Millennial Harbinger, vol, Ti. pp. 109- 11?* 



128 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



KINGDOM OF HEAVET^. 



GENERAL ESSAYS.* 



PATRIARCHAL AGE OF THE WORLD. 

The world had its infancy as well as man. Families preceded 
nations. Family worship was, therefore, the first religious insti- 
tution. 

At the head of this institution naturally stood \\\q father of every 
family. From necessity and from choice, he was the prophet, 
the priest, and the king. As a prophet, he instructed his house- 
hold in the knowledge of God, and in the history of man. As a 
priest, he officiated at the family altar, interceded for those under 
his care, and pronounced benedictions upon his children. As a 
lawgiver and king, he commanded his children and servants, and 
rewarded them according to merit. By a divine ordinance, the 
first fathers of mankijid were thus constituted prophets, priests, 
and kings. Hence, the first religious and political institution is 
properly called ^^the Patriarchal.'^ 

Family worship was, then, the j^7'5^ social worship; and during the 
first ages of the world (for at least two thousand five hundred years) 
it was the only social worship, of divine authority. Though other 
institutions have since been added, this has never been superseded. 
Having its foundation in the matrimonial compact, the most an- 
cient of all religious and political institutions, and this being 

* These essays do not appear in the order in which they were written and pub- 
lished. We place the last-written first; because, in the natural order of things, 
general views of the nature of the Christian kingdom ought to precede the special 
development of its peculiar institutions. They appeared first in the form of extras 
to the regular series of the Millennial Harbinger ; and, a^s we thought it expedient 
to preserve them, as much as possible, in their original form, this will apologize 
for several repetitions which may appear in them. 

All the leading and characteristic principles of that reformation for which we 
piead, as far as the gospel institution is concerned, may be learned from them. 
Much, indeed, of the proof of some of the propositions found in these essays, lies 
scattered over the foce of several volumes; but such a miniature view of the evidence 
by which they are sustained, as, in most cases, is sufficient to the conviction of the 
reader, will be found embodied in them. Those, however, who may not be perfectly 
satisfied with the arguments offered, must be referred to the various discussions 
of these principles found in the Christian Baptist and Millennial Harbinger. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 129 

founded on nature itself, it never can be superseded. 'While the 
forms of this worship have always been adapted to the genius of 
the various revelations of God vouchsafed to mankind, it has 
continued through all the changes of six thousand years, and will 
continue till the day when men, like the angels of God, shall 
neither marry nor give in marriage. 

Family worship, so long as it continued the only social wor- 
ship, underwent no material change; and this is the period which 
is properly called the Patriarchal age of the world. So long as 
the descendants of one man and one woman continued under the 
paternal roof, or until they became heads of families themselves, 
they continued under this religious and political administration. 
And if, after marriage, they did not migrate to a great distance 
from the patrimonial inheritance, the paternal authority was still 
acknowledged and acquiesced in. Thus, in process of time, ho 
who at first was only the head of a single family, if his days 
were prolonged and his progen^^ multiplied, became the paternal 
prince or chief-patriarch of a tribe. 

In the youth of time and freshness of human nature, families 
soon became large ; and as the father and head could not always 
be present while he lived, and as he might die before all his chil- 
dren could have become heads of families, it became necessary 
that a substitute in his absence, and a successor in case of his" 
premature death, should be appointed to fill his place and admi- 
nister the affairs of the family. Nature and reason alike pointed 
to the first-born son, and religion consecrated him his vicegerent. 
Hence, the privileges and honors of the first-born son were both 
religious and political ; and thus the duties devolving upon him 
gave him a right to a double portion of the inheritance. Esau 
was, therefore, both prodigal and profane in selling his birthright 
for a meal of pottage. 

The antiquity of this arrangement appeared from the envv and 
jealousy of Cain, roused at the rejection of his offering and the 
acceptance of that of Abel. That jealousy seems to have been 
kindled into rage because of his birthright. This is fairlv im- 
plied in God's address to Cain, when that address is fairly trans- 
lated and understood: — "If you do well, shall you not have the 
excellency? and if you do not well, sin precludes you (frow the 
excellency.) And (Abel shall be subject to you) to you shaxl be 
his desire^ and you shall rule over him.'^^ 

* Genesis iv. 7, 



130 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The moral and religious institutions of the patriarchal or 
family worship, which continued from the fall of Adam to the 
covenant of circumcision, were the Sabbath, the service of the 
altar, oral instruction, praj^er, praise, and benediction. With the 
addition of circumcision in the family of one patriarch, for special 
purposes, these were the parts of that system which continued for 
two thousand five hundred years. 

The religious observance of weeks or Sabbaths in commemora- 
tion of creation, and prospective of an eternal rest, to arise out 
of the sacrificial and typical institution, was religiously observed 
to the giving of the law, or the erection of the Jewish institution. 
Thus the law of the Sabbath commences with the words "i?e- 
memher the SabbathJ' The righteous always remembered the 
weeks, and regarded the conclusion of the week as holy to the 
Lord. Hence, even after the apostasy, which issued in the 
neglect of family worship, in consequence of the sons of God 
intermarrying with the daughters of men, and which brought a 
flood of water upon the world of the ungodly — we find Noah re- 
ligiously counting his weeks even while incarcerated in the ark. 
In the wilderness of Sin, before the giving of the law, we also 
find the Jews observing the Sabbath. And to facilitate the ob- 
servance of it, God wrought three special miracles during the 
peregrinations of Israel. He gave two days' portion of manna 
on the sixth day — none on the seventh — and preserved from pu- 
trefaction that portion laid up for the Sabbath.^ 

Sin-ofierings and thank-ofi'erings, on altars both of stone and 
earth, were presented to the Lord — the former in faith of the pro- 
mise concerning the bruising the serpent's head by the offspring 
of the woman — the latter in grateful acknowledgment of the 
goodness of God in creation and providence. Cain, without faith 
in the promised redemption, like many deists and natural reli- 
gionists in our time, did acknowledge the goodness and care of 
Gpd by a thank-offering; but Abel, 6?/ faith in that promise, not 
only offered his thank-offering, but a lamb as a sin-offering: 
therefore, while God respected not Cain's oblation without faith 
in that promise, he testified in favor of the gifts of Abel — he ac- 
cepted his sin-offering and his thank-offering. 

In the very brief and general outlines of almost two thousand 
five hundred years given us in the book of Genesis, we find 
sundry allusions to this part of the patriarchal institution. Im 

* Exodus XTi. 15-27 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 131 

mediately after his egress from the ark, we find Noah rearing his 
altar upon the baptized earth, and of every clean bird and beast 
offering to the Lord whole burnt-offerings. Thus began Noah, 
after the deluge, to worship the Lord according to the patriarchal 
institution. And thus we find Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and 
other patriarchs, presenting tlieir sacrifices to the Lord, while the 
family worship was the only religious institution in the world. 

Even libations, drink-offerings, and anointing as token of grati- 
tude and consecration, are found in this most ancient and venerable 
institution. "Jacob rose up early in the morning, took the stone 
which he had put for his pillow, set it up for a pillar, and poured 
oil upon the top of it.'^^ "And Jacob set up a pillar in the place 
where God talked with him, even a pillar of stone, and he poured 
a drink-offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.'^f 

A beautiful and instructive instance of ancient family worship, 
and of the sacerdotal functions, as exercised by the patriarchs in 
reference to the altar, we have in that most ancient of books, sup- 
posed by many to have been written by Moses while in the land 
of Midian; but, according to others, b}^ Job himself, who was cer- 
tainly contemporary with Elipliaz the Temanite, Eliphaz was the 
son of Teman, who was the son of Eliphaz, who was the first 
son of Esau, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. He there- 
fore lived before Moses. Thus we find him also officiating at the 
altar. We are told that "his sons went and feasted in each other^s 
houses, every one his day, and sent and called for their sisters to 
eat and drink with them. And it was so that when the days of 
their feasting had gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, 
and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt-offerings ac- 
cording to the number of them all ; for Job said, It may be that 
nay sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus acted 
Job continually.'^ J 

The same Job, by divine appointment, acted as priest or inter- 
cessor in behalf of his three friends, princes of Edom : for, hav- 
ing spoken amiss, they were commanded to take seven bullocks 
and seven rams, and go to Job, the servant of God, and to offer 
them up for themselves; and "Job my servant shall pray for 
you.^' "Job prayed for them, and the Lord accepted his prayer, 
and forgave Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.^' " The Lord also ac- 
cepted and blessed Job after he had prayed for these his friends, 
and the Lord turned again the captivity of Job.^'l 

* Genesis xxTiii. 13. f Genesis xxxv. 14. % Job i. 4-9. § Job xliii. 8~10> 



182 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

During this period of the world, there was but one high or 
general priest, specially called and sent by God. " He was 
King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God/' To him the 
patriarch Abraham paid tithes or gave the tenth of the spoils 
taken in war, and Melchizedek blessed him. He was of an order 
of his own sort. He had no predecessor, successor, nor equal, in 
the age of family worship. 

From all these facts and documents we learn that the service 
of the altar belonged first to the father of the family — next, to 
his eldest son; — that it consisted in presenting sin-offerings and 
tliank-offerings of various sorts in behalf of himself or family ; — 
that all pious sons and individuals might for themselves erect 
altars, offer sacrifices, and pour out libations and drink-offerings 
to the Lord ; — that these sacrificial observances were generally, if 
not always, accompanied with prayer, intercession, and thanks- 
givings ; — and that intercession in behalf of those under the care 
of any father or patriarch was a part of the first institution. 

Benediction also was one of the first duties of this ofiice. — 
Fathers pronounced blessings on their children. Superiors in 
age and standing blessed their inferiors. Melchizedek blessed 
Abraham, Isaac blessed Jacob, and Jacob blessed the twelve pa- 
triarchs. The invocations of blessings and the imposition of hands 
upon the head were parts of the family-worship institution. 

Concerning prayer and praise, as we cannot imagine a religion 
without them, it is unnecessary to speak particularly of them as 
parts of the patriarchal institution. Jubal soon taught men to 
handle the harp and the organ, and piety soon consecrated them 
to the praise of God. The melodies of nature soon taught man 
to tune his voice to God. Isaac went out into the fields at even- 
tide for secret prayer. Abraham interceded for Sodom until he 
was ashamed to push his importunities further ; and for Abime- 
lech. King of Egypt, and his family, he made his requests to God. 
Of him and his patriarchal character God said, " I know Abra- 
ham, that he will command his children, and his household after 
him, and they shall keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and 
judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he 
has spoken of him.'^* 

Prophets of a public character were occasionally raised up to 
bring men back to the primitive simplicity of the patriarchal 
institution, as well as to lead them forward to the future develop^ 

* Genesis XTiii. 19. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 133 

ments of God's purposes in reference to this work of redempi^on. 
Amongst these the most conspicuous were Enoch, Noah, Abra- 
ham, Isaac, Jacob. To all these were given new visions of the 
future, and thus they were all preachers of righteousness and 
reformers in their respective generations. 

From these gleanings from the book of Genesis, one may learn 
that the family-worship institution, which was divinely instituted 
in the first age of the world, embraced the observance of the 
Sabbath, the service of the altar, oral instruction, prayer, inter- 
cession, thanksgiving, and benediction. It contemplated no other 
bond of union than the marriage-covenant, and the relations 
springing out of it. Doing justly, loving mercy, and walking 
humbly with God, were enforced in all its maxims, and in the 
examples of those whom God honored and approved. 

There was, during the long period of this family institution, 
no community separated from the world larger than a single 
household — no public altars — no temples — no established order 
of public teachers; therefore, there was no initiating or separating 
institutions. There was no circumcision for the infant, nor wash- 
ing of regeneration for the instructed. These institutions of latter 
times had respect to public professing communities; and therefore 
for two thousand years there was no initiating rite or ordinance 
amongst men. 

Wherever the family curtains were spread and a tent erected, 
the devout father built his own altar to the Lord, gathered his 
own children and domestics around him, instructed them in the 
knowledge of God the Creator and Preserver of all ; and in the 
history of man, his origin and destiny, as far as revealed to them. 
They offered their thank-offerings, acknowledgments of favors 
received; and, when conscious of sin, they presented their sin- 
offering, with confessions, and, in faith of God's promise, sup- 
plicated pardon. Such are the essential attributes of the patri- 
archal institution, and of the family worship, as learned from the 
writings of Moses. 

But, as the root of all the subsequent dispensations of God's 
mercy and favor to man was planted in the patriarchal institution, 
it is necessary to our plan, before we advance further, to pay some 
attention to one of these patriarchs, whose fame is eternal, on 
whom God bestowed an honor above all earthly honor, and who 
stands enrolled in the annals of time as the friend of God. The 
intelligent reader needs not to be informed that we now call hii 
attention specially to 



134 THE CHRISTIAAT SYSTEM. 



ABRAHAM. 



Eeader, attend ! *' I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob : this is my name forever, and this is my 
memorial to all generations.'' And shall not the name, the call- 
ing, the blessing, and the history of Abraham always occupy a 
large space in the records of God's government of man, and in 
all the details of his redemption ? 

Because of his unprecedented faith in God's promises and ex- 
alted piety, he was constituted the father of all believers ; and his 
whole life is made a model for all the children of God, as far as 
walking by faith in God's promises is an ornament to human 
character. 

Sufficient, then, to our present purpose, we observe, that during 
the family-worsJiip institution, a little after the commencement of 
the third millennium, about the seventy-fifth year of his life. God - 
appeared to Abraham while he yet lived in Ur of Chalde??, and 
commanded him to depart out of that country, and that he would 
do for him certain things. Abraham obeyed. God gratuitously 
tendered him two promises, not only interesting and valuable to 
Abraham himself, but to all the human race. 

These two promises were intended to be the basis of a two- 
fold relation to God, and the foundation of two distinct religious 
institutions, called '*the Old Testament and the New," "the Old 
Covenant and the New," '*the Two Covenants," and "the Cove- 
nants of Promise." There are contemplated in them the con- 
stitution for a temporal and spiritual kingdom of God — a kingdom 
of God of this world, and a kingdom of God not of this world. 
Be it, therefore, always remembered, when we attempt to form 
correct views of the whole economy of God's redemption, that 
these two promises were made while the patriarchal institution 
was yet standing, and several centuries before its close. What; 
then, it will be asked, are these 

TWO PROMISES? 

We find them in their most simple form in the beginning of the 
twelfth chapter of Genesis. The first — 

'^ I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and 
make thy name great, and thou shall be a blessing. I will bless 
them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.'' 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 135 

The second — "7?i thee sTiall all the families of the earfJi he 
blessed.^ ^ 

These promises, when fully f'eveloped, contained numerous 
blessings. They are, however, in all their details separate and 
distinct from each other. Abraham^s family alone are personally 
concerned in the first — all families of the earth in the second. 
Temporal and earthly are the blessings of the former — spiritual 
and eternal are the blessings of the latter. Paul calls the second, 
*' The gospel preached to Abraham,^' and " The covenant con- 
firmed by God in reference to the Messiah four hundred and thirty 
years before the giving of the law.^' The Jewish kingdom in all 
its glory was but the development of the first — the Christian 
kingdom in its present and future blessings is the consummation 
of the second. 



COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION. 

In pursuance of the first promise, and in order to its exact and 
literal accomplishment, about twenty-four years after its promul- 
gation the ^^ Covenant of Circumcision^^ was established. This 
** covenant in the flesh^' marked out and defined the natural de- 
scendants of Abraham, and gave to the world a full proof of the 
faithfulness of God, putting it in the power of every one to as- 
certain how God keeps his covenants of promise with all people. 
This gave to the descendants of Abraham the title of "TAe Cir- 
cumcision,^' and beautifully represented the separation cf God^s 
people from the children of this world. 

The land of Canaan, as the inheritance of this nation, is re- 
peatedly promised to Abraham ; and as soon as Isaac, the child 
of promise, is born and circumcised, the promise of the "seed'' 
in which all nations were to be blessed is confined to him. Not 
in Ishmael, but "in Isaac, shall thi/ seed be called.'^* 

After the death of Abraham, and towards the close of the life 
of Isaac, his father's God gave him a second edition of these two 
promises. The first is considerably amplified in its details, while 
the second is repeated almost in the same words. That which 
was first to be accomplished is first developed, and its provisions 
pointed out. " I will be with thee and will bless thee ; for unto 
thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will 
perform all the oath which I sware to Abraham thy father ; and 

* Genesis xxi. 12. 



136 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

will Diake thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will 
give to thy seed all these countries ; and in thy seed shall all the 
nations of the earth be blessed : because Abraham obeyed my 
voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and 
my laws/^^ 

The same two promises are repeated in almost the same words 
to Jacob the son of Isaac, at the time he had the vision of the 
ladder reaching from earth to heaven, while, in obedience to a 
command given him by his parents, he was on his way to Padan- 
aram in quest of a wife. On these three great occasions — to 
Abraham — to Isaac — to Jacob — these two promises are solemnly 
pronounced ; always standing in the same order — never con- 
founded ; but as distinct as earth and heaven — as time and 
eternity. 

Four hundred and thirty years after the first solemn declaration 
of these promises, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
in virtue of the promise, were redeemed out of bondage in Egypt, 
and saved from the tyranny and cruelty of Pharaoh. Then, in 
order to the full completion of its stipulations, God, by the hand 
of Moses, proposed a covenant with all Israel at Sinai ; in which 
he guarantees to do all for them contemplated in the promise, 
confirmed by an oath to Abraham, in being a God to his seed 
after him. This 

SINAITIC COVENANT 

constituted them a kingdom of God, a holy nation, a peculiar 
people. All the blessings comprehended in the first promise to 
Abraham, or that could grow out of the relation to God which it' 
contemplated, were in full detail carried out into this transaction 
and secured to the whole nation. The relation was, however, 
temporal, and its blessings temporal and earthly. The second 
promise, made no part of the Jewish institution or covenant at 
Sinai, more than it did of the patriarchal or antecedent institution. 
The typical or figurative part of the family worship, enlarged and 
improved, was translated into the national institution and made a 
part of it : and whatever spiritual privilege was enjoyed by tke 
Jew was enjoyed upon the same principle with the patriarch — 
by faith in the second promise, and by an intelligent and believing 
attendance upon all the appointed means which either prefigured 
the coming redemption, or realized the blessings which were to 
be derived through the promised seed. 

* Genesis xxiv. 3, 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 187 

The SEED in which all the families of the earth were to be 
blessed was in the nation, but in no other sense than as it was in 
the people while in Egypt, or in the patriarchs before they went 
down into Egypt. It was in the nation, but no element of the 
national institution. They had the second promise made to their 
fathers, and all the faithful and approved among them believed 
that promise, and acted conformably to it. Thus amongst tho 
Jews, even before the coming of the Messiah, there were 



the natural and the spiritual children of Abraham. The whole 
nation were his literal and natural children ; and such of them as 
believed the second promise and understood it were not only his 
natural children, but his children in the same sense in which all 
believing Gentiles are by virtue of the second promise constituted 
the children of Abraham. The first, like Ishmael, were born 
according to the flesh — the fleshly seed of Abraham ; the second, 
like Isaac, were the children of faith in the promise : and thus 
Abraham is the constituted father of all who believe in that pro- 
mise, whether of his flesh or not. 

But the second promise was not fulfilled for nearly one thousand 
five hundred years after the first, or after the national institution 
was confirmed at Sinai ; and therefore 

THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM, 

which was to come on the nations through his seed, through 
faith in the accomplished promises, was to be the basis and the 
substance of a new institution. This "blessing of Abraham^' in- 
cludes all the spiritual and eternal blessings which are laid up in 
his seed, who is the ark of this new constitution, in w^hom all 
the promises of God are verified, and in whom they are deposited 
for the comfort and salvation of all the faithful children of God. 
AVhatever concerned the family of Abraham, coming through the 
first promise, descended upon the family principle, which is only 
flesh; but whatever concerns all saints of all nations descends 
upon the new principle oi faith. *' They who are of faith,'' says 
Paul, ** are blessed with believing Abraham.'' And " If you be 
Christ's, then" (and only then) "are you Abraham's seed and 
heirs according to the promise." 

12* 



138 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The blessing of Abraham was then promised in the patriarchal 
age antecedent to the Jewish national institution, and indepen 
dent of it ; therefore that institution cannot affect, much less dib 
annul, the blessings promised in the covenant, confirmed before 
by God, respecting the Messiah, in the time of family worship, 
and four hundred and thirty years before the Jewish institution 
began. 

In calling Abraham, and in making him the father of many 
nations, and the depositary of still more precious promises and 
revelations, God did not supersede the family worship. He only 
added to the stock of religious knowledge, strengthened the faith, 
and enlarged the hopes, of that single family. The family insti- 
tution continued without the slightest change, except in one par- 
ticular specified in the covenant of circumcision, as respected the 
single family of Abraham, for four hundred and thirty years after 
the charter concerning his seed and that concerning the Messiah 
were secured to this renowned patriarch. Thus we have traced 
the continuance of the family religion, or patriarchal economy, 
for two thousand ^yq hundred years, and are now prepared to 
make a few remarks on the Jewish national institution, though 
we have already anticipated almost all that is necessary to our 
present object. Still, however, we shall make it the subject of a 
distinct notice. 

THE JEWISH INSTITUTION. 

In this age of improvement of divine institutions, we read and 
hear much of "two dispensations of the covenant of grace ;'' thus 
making the Jewish and the Christian institutions dispensations 
of one "covenant of grace.'^ Why not make the patriarchal 
(still more venerable for its antiquity, and which continued a 
thousand years longer than the Jewish) also a dispensation of the 
covenant of grace, and then we should have had three dispensa- 
tions of one covenant? This is but a ^^ show of wisdom. ^^ The 
Holy Spirit calls them " two covenants,'^ or " two institutions,'' 
and not two modifications of one covenant ; and it speaks of each 
as established upon promises. The Jewish was established upon 
temporal and earthly promises, contained in the first promise 
made to Abraham ; but the new, says Paul, *' is established upon 
better 'promises,^' growing out of that concerning the blessing of thi 
nations in the promised seed.^ 

* Jeremiah xxxi. 31. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 185 

The Jewish institution commenced and continued about one 
thousand five hundred years before the Reign of Heaven began. 
It was not substituted for the family worship, but added to it ; 
alfecting, however, the patriarchal institution in some respects, as 
far as concerned the single family of Abraham. The individual 
families of the nation of the Jews, as such, had still their family 
worship — still the worship of God was heard in the dwellings of 
the righteous; and, like Joshua, every good Israelite said, *'A3 
for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.^' 

In four hundred years the family of Abraham had, in the line 
of Isaac and Jacob, in fulfilment of the first promise, grown up 
into millions. Not less than two millions^ came up out of Egypt 
under the conduct of Moses. The heavenly Father, in progres- 
sive development of his plan of blessing all nations, leaves all 
the world under the family-worship institution, and erects the 
whole progeny of Abraham that came up out of Egypt into one 
great national institution. He condescends to appear in the cha- 
racter of King of the Jews, and to make them a kingdom of God, 
as preparatory to the appearance of his Son, who is predestined 
to be the king of the whole earth, and to have a kingdom which 
shall ultimately embrace all the nations of the world. 

The twelve tribes were brought into the form of one great 
worshipping family, presenting through the common High-Priest 
their united worship to God. This gave rise to the erection of one 
public house consecrated to the Lord, as the place of meeting in 
their social and national character. A constitution, political, 
moral, and religious, was submitted to the people ; and on their 
adoption of it they became the covenanted people of God. This 
constitutional kingdom was built upon precept and promises ; 
and its worship, when fully developed, was little more than the 
extension of the family worship to one great national family. 
They had one king, one high-priest, one national altar, one na- 
tional house of God, one morning and evening service, one great 
national sacrifice, and one great annual atonement. The nation 
was a family of families, and whatever pertained to a single family 
in its family worship was extended and accommodated to this 
great confederate family. 

Various mystic and significant institutions distingmsned this 
nation from all others; for it was one principal object of its insti* 

* Men fit for war are never more than the third or fourth of any population. 
There were six hundred thousand men of this class when they came to Mount 
Sinai. 



140 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

tution to keep its subjects separate and distinct from all other 
people till Messiah (the promised seed) should come. Another 
object was, to picture out in appropriate types the spiritual wor- 
ship of the kingdom of heaven, and to exhibit the great doctrines 
of faith, repentance, remission, adoption, and inheritance, by 
picturesque images, ingeniously devised to adumbrate the whole 
doctrine of reconciliation and sanctification to God. 

The Jewish institution is not to be regarded only in its political, 
moral, and religious aspects, but especially in its figurative and 
prospective character. God so wisely and benevolently contrived 
it from its origin to its close, that its whole history — the fates and 
fortunes of its subjects from their descent into Egypt, their tra- 
vels thence to Canaan and settlement in the land of promise — 
their fortunes in that land to their final catastrophe — should 
exactly and impressively shadow forth the new institution with the 
fates and fortunes of the subjects of this new and m.ore glorious 
order of things. " All these things happened to them for types,^* 
(examples,) says Paul, "and they are written for our admonition, 
upon whom the ends of the world have come.'' The same great 
commentator on this institution not only presents the history of 
its subjects as instructive to the citizens of the new institution, 
but of the tabernacle he says, " It was a figurative representation 
for the time then present,'' and the furniture thereof "the patterns 
of things in the heavens." "The law," he adds, "contained only 
a shadow of the good things to come," A shadow, indeed, pro- 
ceeding from a man, a house, a tree, is not, and cannot be, an 
exact image or representation of them ; yet, when explained by a 
verbal description, it easily facilitates an easy and correct con- 
ception of them. 

So full of the doctrine of the new institution was the old, that 
we find all the Apostles and Christian writers unceremoniously 
applying every thing they quote from the law, the prophets, and 
the Psalms, to the Messiah, his kingdom, and the fortunes .f his 
people; as if the Jewish writings had no other object than to un- 
fold the kingdom of heaven. Jesus begins with Abraham seeing 
his da} on Mount Moriah in the typical resurrection of Isaac. 
Paul regards Hagar, Ishmael, Sarah, Isaac, as the best illustra- 
tion of the two institutioris ; and John ends with the description 
of the descent of Jerusalem from heaven. 

Every one, then, who would accurately understand the Chris- 
tian institution must approach it through the Mosaic; and he that 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. I4l 

would be a proficient in the Jewish must make Paul his com- 
mentator. While the mere politician, moralist, or religionist con- 
templates the one without the other, though he may find much to 
admire in both, he will never understand either. A veil, thick 
as that which concealed the glory of the face of Moses from the 
Israelites, will hide the glory of the Jewish and Christian institu- 
tion from his view. 

Not only did the tabernacle, the temple, their furniture, the 
service of both, the priests, the sacrifices, the festivals, the con- 
vocations, and all the ordinances of that ritual, together with the 
history of that people, assume the picturesque and figurative 
character, but almost all the illustrious and highly-distinguished 
personages of that institution were made prophetic or typical of 
the Messiah or of the great incidents of his life, suff'erings, and 
triumphs, and the leading afi'airs of his government. Amongst 
persons in the patriarchal and Jewish ages who, in one or more 
prominent characters or incidents, or in their general history, 
adumbrated the Messiah and his reign, the following group oc- 
cupy a lofty eminence: — Adam, Abel, Noah, Melchizedek, Isaac, 
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samson, David, Jonah. Of 
tilings of this class, as well as persons highly figurative and in- 
structive, are the visions of Jacob's ladder — the burning bush — 
the pillar of cloud and fire — the manna — the rock Horeb, a foun- 
tain of living water in the wilderness — the veil of Moses — the 
brazen serpent — the victory over the nations of Canaan — and the 
land of Canaan itself. And of ordinances, the passover, the 
scape-goat, the red heifer, the year of jubilee, the law of the 
leper, the kinsman redeemer, the cities of refuge ; together with 
all the sacrifices, washings, anointings, and consecrations of the 
holy nation. 

But a third object of the Jewish institution, of paramount 
importance to the world, was the furnishing of a new alphabet 
and language, (the elements of heavenly science.) \vithout which 
it would appear to have been almost, if not altogether, impossible 
to learn the spiritual things or to make any proficiency in the 
knowledge of those relations w^hich Christianity unfolds. The 
language of the new institution is therefore explained by that of 
the old. No one can understand the dialect of the kingdom of 
heaven who has not studied the dialect of the antecedent admi- 
nistrations of heaven over the patriarchs and Jews. The most 
striking and characteristic attribute of the sacred dialect is, that 



142 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the elements of it are composed of the incidents of history, oi 
what we call remarkable providences. 

I cannot explain myself better, nor render my readers a more 
essential service, than by illustrating by an actual detail of sacred 
history the following proposition, viz.: — That sacred history, or the 
remarkable instances of God's providence to the Jews and Patri- 
archs, are the foundation of the sacred dialect of the new institution. 
Or, if the reader will understand it better, it may be thus ex- 
pressed: — All the leading words and phrases of the New Testament 
are to be explained and understood by the history of the Jewish na- 
tion and God's government of them. Take the following as a 
mere specimen : — 

God called Abram out of Ur, and changed his name into Abra- 
ham, and the name of his wife Sarai into Sarah. He promised 
Isaac as the person' in whom his seed should be called. God did 
tempt Abraham, commanding him to offer Isaac for a burnt-offer- 
ing. Isaac had two sons — Esau the elder, and Jacob the younger. 
Esau despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob. Jacob wrestled 
with God, and prevailed ; he obtained a blessing, and was there 
fore called Israel. He had tivelve sons : of these Joseph was his 
favorite. His brethren envied him, and sold him for twenty pieces 
of silver. Joseph found grace in the sight of his master. The 
Lord was with Joseph. He was cast into prison, and from thence 
was elevated to be the governor of Egypt under Pharaoh. A 
famine in Canaan compelled Jacob and his sons into Egypt for 
bread, and Joseph was made known to his brethren. Joseph died 
in Egypt and left his father's house in that land. They multiplied 
exceedingly, and the Egyptians greatly afflicted and oppressed the 
Israelites. Moses was born and exposed : Pharaoh's daughter 
found him and adopted him for a son. Moses fled into Midian, 
and married the daughter of the priest or prince of Midian, and 
kept his father-in-law's flock in the desert, and came to Horeb, 
the mountain of God. The Lord appeared to him in aflame of fire 
in a bush. The bush burned and was not consumed. Moses 
dreic near, and then first stood on holy ground. God sent him to 
Egypt to lead his people out of bondage. 

God made him say to the children of Israel, "I am has sent me 
to you. Gather the elders of Israel and say to them. The Lord 
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,'' &c. "has sent me to 
you. I will smite Egypt with my wonders, and bring you up out 
of the afflictions of Egypt. Tell Pharaoh, Israel is my son — my 
first-born. Take Aaron with thee, and thou shalt^wi words i^to 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 14S 

Jiis moutli; and I will be with tluj mouih and with his mouth : he 
shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him in- 
siead of God. Take thy rod in thy hand. The Lord sent Aaron 
to Moses: and he met him in the mount and hissed him. And the 
Lord visited his people. And the people believed when they heard 
that the Lord had looked upon their affliction. Pharaoh oppressed 
them still more. The Lord said, With a strong hand shall he let 
them go. I will redeem them with a stretched-out arm, and with 
gres,t judgments. I will give you Canaan for 2i heritage; I will 
take you to me for a people. I will be your God J' 

Moses said, I am a man of uncircumcised lips, and how shall 
Pharaoh hearken to me ? I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, 
and Aaron thy prophet. I will multiply my signs, and bring out 
ny people, and harden Pharaoh's heart. When he says, "Show 
me a miracle, '' cast your rod before him, and it shall become a 
serpent. Still Pharaoh refused, and hardened his heart. The ma- 
gicians, overcome with the signs, said, This is the finger of God. 
The God of the Hebrews said, Let my people go. I have roused 
thee up (as a lion) to show in you my power, and to make my 
name known through all the earth. The Lord slew all the frst- 
born of Egypt after he had plagued them exceedingly. Pharaoh 
commanded them to depart; but he pursued them to the Red Sea. 
Israel fainted at the sight before and behind them. Moses said, 
Stand still and see the salvation of God. The sea was divided. 
Covered with a cloud, Israel marched through as on dry ground. 
The waters stood on either side as a wall. Pharaoh pursued with 
his chariots and horsemen, but the waters returned and they were 
drowned. Thus the Lord redeemed, saved, delivered, a7id brought 
Israel out of bondage. 

After this deliverance, Moses and the children of Israel sang, 
"The Lord is become m?/ salvation; he ism?/ God. Thou hast 
overthrown them that rose up against tliee. Thou hast led fortli 
thy people whom thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided tliem in 
thy strength to thy holy habitation. The inhabitants of Canaan 
shall be still as a stone till thy people pass over, Lord, the 
people thou hast purchased. Thou shalt plant them in the moun- 
tains of thine inheritance; in the sanctuary which thy hands have 
established J' 

They came into the wilderness of Sin. They cried for bread, 
and God rained bread from heaven upon them, that he might jorore 
them whether or not they would walk in his law, and they did eat 
manna forty years till they came to the borders of Canaan. 



144 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

They complained for water, and tempted God And Moses 
smote the rock in Horeb, and water gushed out. But Moses was 
wroth, and smote the rock twice, and he and Aaron thus rebelled 
against God, and fell in the wilderness. The Lord made a cove- 
nant with the whole nation at Sinai, and made them a jjeculiar 
treasure above all people — a hingdoin of priests, a lioly nation: 
and God spake all the words of the law, written on two tables of 
Btone ; and spake to Israel from heaven. 

The Lord, by Moses, gave them directions for rearing a taber- 
nacle, and a pattern for all its furniture. And as a ransom for his 
soul, every man, rich and poor, was to pay half a shekel as an 
offering to tJie Lord to make an atonement for his soul ; and it was 
given for the service of the tabernacle. AVhen the tabernacle was 
reared and finished, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and 
the cloud coft^ered it. And when the cloud was taken up they 
journeyed; but until it was taken up they journeyed not. The 
cloud was in the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, 
in the sight of all Israel throughout all their journeys. 

And before Moses died he laid his hands upon Joshua, and gave 
him a charge as the Lord commanded; and thus put honor upon 
him, that the children of Israel might be obedient to him as their 
saviour. *'As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee,'^ saith 
God: '' I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.^' 

Could we thus proceed with the history of this people, and add 
to their history the observance of their religious institutions, we 
should find out the true meaning of the sacred style of the New 
Testament with more accuracy and certainty than from all the 
commentators of ancient and modern times. This, as a sample, 
must suffice for our present purpose. 

From the premises now before us, the specifications of the out- 
lines of the Sinaitic and national institution, and the terms and 
phrases found in the history of this people, we may discover in 
what relation they stood to God, and what favors he bestowed 
upon them in that relation. 

They were the called and chosen, or the elect of God as a nation. 
As such, they were delivered, saved, bought, or purchased, and re- 
deemed. God is said to have created, made, formed, and begotten 
:hem. As such, he is called their Father, their God, their Re- 
deemer, their King, their Saviour, their Salvation; and. they are 
called his children, sons, and daughters ; born to him, his hoicse, 
people, inheritance, family, servants. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 145 

As a cliartcred and congregated people, they are called the city^ 
the holy city, the city of the Lord, Jerusalem, Zion, Mount Zion, 
the city of David. Other nations in contrast with them are called 
•not a people, aliens, strangers, enemies, faf off, unclean. 

Various similitudes expressive of the kind relation in which 
they stood to God are also found in the pages of the ancient in- 
stitutions, — such as husband and wife, shepherd and flock, vine 
and vineyard, mother and children. They are said to be written 
:t enrolled in the hook of God ; to be planted, washed, sanctifed, 
clean, separated to God ; they ai^e called the house, building, sanc- 
tuary, dwelling-place of God; a kingdom of priests, a holy nation^ 
a peculiar people, &c. 

Those who are curious to trace these phrases descriptive of the 
relation and privileges of this ancient kingdom of God had better 
(in addition to the passages quoted in their history from Egypt 
to the Jordan) examine the following passages : — Exodus xiv. 
SO ; XV. 16 ; xix. 6. Deuteronomy iv. 37 ; vii. 6 ; x. 15 ; xiv. 1 ; 
i. 31 ; vii. 5 ; xxxii. 6, 18, 19 ; xviii. 7 ; iii. 18, 20 ; xii. 9. 1 Kings 
iii. 8. Psalms cv. 6 ; xxxiii. 13 ; cv. 43 ; cvi. 5, 21 ; Ixxiv. 2 ; 
cxlix. 2. Isaiah xli. 8, 9 ; xliii. 1, 3, 5, 7 ; li. 2, 4 ; xli. 1, 6, 7. 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Psalms of David throughout, &c. 

Unless we should write a full treatise on these antecedent in- 
stitutions, we cannot with propriety descend further into details. 
The outlines, as far as subordinate to the theme of this essay, are 
now before the reader ; and with this preparation we shall now 
invite his attention to the kingdom of heaven. 

And why, an American would say, is it not called the Republic 
of Heaven, and the Chief called the President of a Celestial Ee- 
public? Certainly there were the Republics of Greece and Rome 
before the doctrine of this Kingdom was first promulgated, and 
the Gentiles as well as the Jews could have understood the figure 
of a Republic as well as that of a Kingdom. It was not, then, 
because there w^as not in society a model or type of this sort ; but 
because such a type would have been inapposite to the nature of 
this institution. 

History testifies that republics are better adapted to peace than 
war, and that they are forced and unnatural organizations of so- 
ciety. Aristocracies and republics owe all their attractions to the 
excessive corruptions of the governments under which they have 
originated. They are the reaction of force and fraud, of cruelty 
and oppression, and are sustained by the remembrance and appre- 

13 



146 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

hension of the evils which occasioned them. Thej have always 
been extolled or admired either in contrast with the vices and 
enormities of degenerate and profligate monarchies, or in the 
freshness of the recollections of the wa-ongs and outrages which 
occasioned them ; and men have generally tired of them when 
they became corrupt and forgetful of the oppressions and crimes 
which forced them into being. So that the corruptions of mon» 
archies have given birth to republics, and the corruptions of these 
have originated monarchies again. 

In these last days of degeneracy, republics are great blessings 
to mankind, as good physicians are blessings in times of pesti- 
lence ; but yet it must be confessed that it would be a greater 
blessing to be without plagues and doctors. "While men are, 
however, so degenerate, and while selfishness and injustice are 
so rampant in society, republican officers are better than kings — 
because we can get rid of them sooner. They are, indeed, kings 
under another name, with a short-leased authority ; and our expe- 
rience fully demonstrates that in these degenerate days the reigns 
of our republican kings are nearly long enough. Till the King 
of kings comes, we Christians ought to be good republicans, un- 
der the conviction that human governments seldom grow better, 
and that the popular doctrine of our country is true — that poli- 
tical authority generally makes a man worse, and public favors 
almost invariably corrupt the heart. Rapid rotation in office is 
the practical influence of the republican theory ; and the experi- 
ment proves that, brief as republican authority is, it is sometimes 
too long for republican virtue to sustain without deterioration. 
Now, if this be true of republican virtue, the brightest and the 
best, what earthly virtue can long resist the contamination of 
long-protracted authority ? 

Monarchy is the only form of government, however, which 
nature recognises. It was the first, and it will be the last. A 
government with three or thirty heads is a monster ; and there- 
fore the beast that represents it comes out of the sea with a plu- 
rality of horns as well as heads. 

The most approved theory of human nature and of human 
government now current wherever the English language is spoken, 
either in the Old World or in the New, is that a monarchy would 
be always the best government, because the cheapest, the most 
efficient, and the most dignified ; provided only, that the crown 
was placed on the wisest head, ard the sceptre wuelded by the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 147 

purest hands. Could we always secure this, we would all be 
monarchists : because we cannot, we are all republicans. 

But, after this apology for the phrase Kingdom of Heaven, we 
would recall the attention of the reader to the concession, made 
by republicans themselves, that a kingdom is better adapted to a 
state of war than a republic; and that this beautiful though most 
appropriate figure, which occurs in the New Testament more than 
one hundred and fifty times, and very often in the Old, presup- 
poses a state of war as existing in the universe. But, for the rea- 
sons assigned in preference of monarchy, the natural government 
of the universe always was, is, and evermore shall be, monarchy. 
God himself is of necessity absolute monarch of the universe. 
Had he not essentially sustained that relation to all his creatures, 
there never could have been rebellion nor sin in his dominions. 
The systems of nature are all after this model. Every sun is a 
king over the system which it controls ; and in every sphere there 
is one controlling and supreme principle. It will be the last 
government ; for when the episode in the great drama of rational 
existence which sin occasioned shall have been completed, the 
government of the universe will assume its ancient order, and 
God be supreme monarch again. But this will not be till Jesus 
gives up the kingdom to God which a preternatural state of 
things put into his hands. This cannot be till he has subdued 
man to his rightful allegiance, or destroyed forever every oppo- 
nent to the absolute monarchy of the Eternal Supreme; *'for 
Jesus must reign till all his enemies be put under his feet.^^ 

The kingdom which Jesus has received from his Father, hoAv- 
ever heavenly, sublime, and glorious it may be regarded, is only 
temporal. It had a beginning, and it will have an end ; for he 
must reign only till all enemies are put under his feet. But the 
transition of the sceptre into the hands of Emanuel has not 
changed the government. He is now the hereditary Monarch of 
the universe, as well as the proper King of his own kingdom. 
He now reigns as absolutely over all principalities, hierarchies, 
and powers, celestial and terrestrial, as did the great God and Father 
of the universe, before he was invested with the regal authority. 

We have said it was a preternatural state of things which origi- 
nated the kingdom of Jesus: therefore the object of this reme- 
dial reign is to destroy that preternatural state of things — to put 
down sin. Now, as all human governments presuppose disorder, 
and as the kingdoms of this world generally have arisen out of 
confusion and war, this kingdom of heaven Df which we are to 



148 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

speak owes its origin to the celestial and terrestrial apostasies — 
the revolt of Satan and of Adam. Were there no injustice within 
or violence without, civil government would be wholly unneces- 
sary, and its appendages an excrescence upon society. Had there 
not been such a revolt and rebellion as sacred history records, 
there would have been no such kingdom of heaven as that over 
which Jesus the Messiah now presides. Now, as both this King 
and kingdom, and all that appertains to them, were occasioned 
by such a preternatural state of things, we must view them in all 
their attributes and details, w^ith reference to those circumstances 
which called them into being. 

THE ELEMENTS OF A KINGDOM. 

\Ye must understand the type, or we cannot understand the 
antitype. We must understand that which is natural before we 
can understand that which is spiritual. AVhat then are the essen- 
tial elements of a kingdom as existing among men ? They are 
five, viz. : King, Constitution, Subjects, Laws, and Territory. 
Such are the essential parts of every political kingdom, perfect in 
its kind, now existing on earth. 

In forming a state, the essential elements are people and coun- 
try. The people make a constitution, and this makes a President 
or King, citizens or subjects, and every thing else belonging to a 
state. It is, then, the relation into which the people resolve 
themselves which makes it a republic, an aristocracy, a monarchy. 
Do they choose a monarchy ? They first make a constitution, and 
this places one upon the throne — makes them subjects, and he 
gives them laws. Although the constitution is first, in the order 
of nature, of all the elements of a kingdom, (for it makes one man 
a king and the rest subjects,) yet we cannot imagine a constitution 
in reference to a kingdom, without a king and subjects. In speak- 
ing of them in detail, we cannot then speak of any one of them 
as existing without the others — we must regard them as correlates, 
and as coming into existence contemporaneously. There is no 
husband nor wife before marriage, neither can there be a husband 
without a wife ; yet one of the parties must be made before the 
other. Marriage makes a husband out of the bridegroom, and a 
wife out of the bride. So the constitution makes the king or the 
governor, the citizens or subjects, out of the people, as the case 
may be; for there never can be a king or subject without a con- 
stitution, or, what is the same thing, an agreement, verbal or 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 149 

written, for certain privileges stipulated and conditioned. In 
every well-regulated political kingdom, in the order of nature, the 
elements stand thus: — 1. Constitution; 2. King; 3. Subjects; 4. 
Laws ; 5 . Territory. 

In the kingdom which God set up by Moses, the elements 
stood in this order. The constitution was first proposed under 
which God condescended to be their King, and they were to be 
regarded as his people or subjects ; he then gave them laws and 
established them in the territory before promised. 

But in the kingdom of nature, or in the original kingdom of 
God, the elements are only four, and the order in which they stand 
are: — I.King; 2. Subjects; 3. Laws; 4. Territory. As Father 
and Creator of that kingdom, God himself was absolute Sovereign, 
whose will is the supreme law of the whole realm of nature. 

Having ascertained the essential elements of a kingdom, and 
marked the order in which they stand, before we particularly at- 
tend to these elements in order, we shall ask, Why this kingdom 
is called the Kingdom of Heaven. 

THE NAME 

Heaven, and the Kingdom of Heaven, are not one and the same 
thing. God is not the Kingdom of God. But as the Kingdom 
of God is something pertaining to God, so the Kingdom of 
Heaven is something pertaining to Heaven, and consequently to 
God. Whether always the phrases " the Kingdom of God'^ and 
** the Kingdom of Heaven^' exactly represent the same thing, 
certain it is that both phrases are often applied to the same insti- 
tution.* 

This is true of them, whether translated reign ov Icingdoyn ; and 
it is very evident that frequently the original word hasileia ought 
in preference to be rendered reign, inasmuch as this term better 
suits all those passages wh^vQ coming or approacliing is spoken 
of: for, while reigns- or administrations approach and recede, king- 
doms have attributes and boundaries which are stationary. Reign 
and Kingdom of God, though sometimes applicable to the same 
subject, never contemplate it in the same light. They isr^., in- 
deed, as intimately connected as the reign of King William and 
the kingdom of Great Britain. The former represents the admi- 

* If the following passages are carefully examined and compared it will appear 
that both these phrases often represent the same thing : — Matt. iii. 7 : Mark i. 14 , 
Luke iv. 43.— Matt. xiii. 12; Mark iv. 11; Luke viii. 10.— Matt. xi. 11; Luke vi. 28 ; 
To these three distinct evidences many more mischt he added. What Matthew callh 
** the Kiufc^dom of He-avtrC Mark and Luke call thn '' Kingdom of God^ 



150 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

nistration of the kingdom, and the latter the state over which this 
administration extends. 

Two good reasons may be offered why Matthew, the oldest 
Christian writer, generally prefers Kingdom or Reign of HeaveUy 
to the phrase Kingdom or Reign of God ; I say generally, for he 
occasionally uses both designations."^ He wrote to Jews in Judea 
who expected a Messiah, a King, and a Kingdom of God on 
earth, — a mere improvement of the Jewish system ; and therefore 
to raise their conception he delights to call it the Reign or King- 
dom of Heaven, in contrast with that earthly Kingdom of God of 
which they were so long in possession. 

He also found a good reason in the idiom of the Jewish pro- 
phets for using the word Heaven (both in the singular and plural 
form) for God, Daniel told the Assyrian monarch that his king- 
dom would be sure to him when he should have learned that ''the 
Heavens do rule ;^^ yet in the preceding verse he says, *' Till thou 
kuowest that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, '^ — thus 
using Heavens and the Most High as synonymous. The Psalmist 
says, " The wicked set their mouths against the Heavens.'^ The 
Prodigal confesses that he had " sinned against Heaven/^ and 
Jesus himself asked whether the baptism of John was "from 
Heaven or from men.^^ Thus he was authorized from the Jewish 
use of the word to regard it as equivalent to God. Tf, then, Mat- 
thew had meant no more by the phrase " Kingdom of Heaven" 
than the ''Kingdom of God, ^^ he was justified, by the Jewish use 
of the word heaven, to apply it in that sense. Some may object 
to all these remarks upon Matthew's manner, that it was Jesus 
Christ and the preachers he commissioned who called it the 
Kingdom of Heaven, and not Matthew Levi. To such we reply 
that the other sacred writers uniformly, in reciting all the same 
parables and incidents, use the phrase "Kingdom of God,^^ and 
never the phrase "the Kingdom of Heaven.'^ 

From the use of the phrase " Kingdom of God,^' we must, I 
think, regard him as having special reference to the reason firsc 
assigned. He does not say the Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken 
from the Jews; but "The Kingdom of God shall be taken from 
you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it:'' for 
although it might with propriety, in his acceptation, be said that 
the Jews already had the kingdom of God, it could not be said 
that they had the kingdom of Heaven as proclaimed by Matthevv^.f 

* See chapters vi. 33; xii. 28; xix. 24; xxi. 51, 43. f Matt. xxi. 45, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 151 

When compared with the earthly Kingdom of God among the 
Jews, it is certainly the Kingdom of Heaven; for Jesus alleges 
that his kingdom is not of this world ; and Daniel affirmed that 
in the days of the last worldly empire the God of heaven would 
set up a kingdom unlike all ethers then on earth ; in Avhich/ as 
Paul teaches, men are "blessed with every spiritual blessing in 
heavenly places in Christ -/'^ for he has raised us Jews and Gen- 
tiles, and " has set us down together in the heavenly places by 
Christ Jesus/^t 

There is, in the superior and heavenly privileges and honors 
bestowed upon the citizens of this kingdom, the best reason why 
it should have first been presented to the world under this title, 
rather than any other ; and for the same reasons which influenced 
Matthew to usher it into notice in Judea, under this designation, 
we ought now to prefer it, because many of our contemporaries, 
like the ancient Jews, see as much of •'heaven and glory in the 
veiled grace of the Mosaic institution as in the unveiled grace 
of the Christian kingdom. The pertinency of this title will 
appear still more evident as we develop the constitutional privi- 
leges of this kingdom. 

But most evidently the Kingdom of Heaven is " the Kingdom 
of Christ and of GodJ'% It is the Kingdom of God, because he 
set it up, II gave the constitution and King, and all the materials 
out of which it is erected.^ It is the kingdom of Christ, because 
God the Father gave it to him as his Son, and as the heir of all 
things; and, therefore, ** all that is the Father^s is mine,^' says 
Jesus, "and I am his.^^T[ ^^God created all things by Jesus Christ 
and FOR hiniJ^ 

Having, then, noticed the reasons for the characteristic titles of 
this kingdom, and having already ascertained what are the ele- 
ments absolutely essential to a kingdom, distinguished from those 
merely circumstantial or accidental, we shall now proceed to con- 
sider, in the order suggested, the Constitution, King, Subjects, 
Laws, and Territory of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

CONSTITUTION. 

God himself, after the gracious councils of his own will, pro 
posed and tendered the constitution of this kingdom to his own 
Son. This "glory he had with the Father before the world was.'* 

* Eph. i. 3. t Eph. li. 6. % Eph. v. 5. 

U Daniel ii. 44. § Jer. xxxi. 31, 34. % John xvii. 18. 



152 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

He that was *' in the beginning with God^' — *' tJie wisdom and 
power of God'' — was set up [constituted] from everlasting, or 
ever the earth was. " Then was I with God, as one brought up 
with him ; I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him — 
rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth ; and my delights were 
with the sons of men.^'* Therefore, he who was to be ^^ ruler in 
IsraeV was with God in counsel "in the beginning of all his 
ways ','' for " his goings forth were from of old, even from the day 
of eternity. ^'t 

It was TO DO THE WILL, or fulfil the items in this constitution, 
that " the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.'' I came to 
do the will of him that sent me, and to finish " the work given me 
to do.'' " I have power to lay down my life, and I have power 
to resume it ; this commandment I received from my Father.'^ 
The Father "commissioned and sent him forth into the world." 
He "came down from heaven." "Thou hast given me power over 
all flesh, that I might give eternal life to all that thou hast given 
me." 

These and many other passages, which the reader will easily 
remember, unequivocally evince that an understanding and agree- 
ment existed ere time began between God and the Word of God ; 
or, as now revealed, between the Father and the Son, respecting 
the kingdom. In consequence of Avhich " he divested himself" 
of his antecedent glory — "took upon him the form of a bond- 
servant"— "was made in the likeness of sinful flesh" — " took part 
with us in flesh and blood." In consequence of which agreement, 
and the promised glory, for " the joy set before him in the pro- 
mise," of " seeing his seed, the travail of his soul, and being 
satisfied," he " endured the cross, despising the shame," and was 
** made perfect through sufi'erings to lead many sons to glory." 

To the stipulations concerning eternal life, propounded in the 
constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, frequent allusions are 
made in the Apostle's writings. Thus the believers were "elected 
in Mm before the foundation of the world," and "eternal life was 
promised before the times of the ages," according to the benevo- 
lent purposes which lie purposed in himself for the administration 
of the fulness of the appointed times, to gather together all under 
Christ — all in the heavens and all on the earth, under him." He 
formerly marked us out for an adoption through Jesus Christ to 
Idmself, according to his purpose who eff'ectually works all things 
according to the counsel of his will.J 

* Prov. \iii. '^i-Gl. t ^licali v. 31. + Eph. i. 3-12. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 153 

From all these sayings and allusions, we must trace the con- 
stitution of this kingdom into eternity — before time began. We 
must date it from everlasting, and resolve it into the absolute gra- 
cious will of the eternal God. In reference to all the prospective 
developments of time, ''known to God from the beginning/^ it 
proposed to make the Word flesh, and then to make the Incarnate 
AVord, called Emanuel, or Jesus Christ, the King ; to give him 
all who should be reconciled to God by him for subjects^ to put 
under him all the angelic hosts, and constitute him monarch of 
earth, laivgiver to the universe ; and thus make him heir and 
Lord of all things. 

As a constitution brings all the elements of a kingdom into a 
new relation to one another, so it is the measure and guarantee 
of all the privileges, immunities, and obligations accruing to all 
the parties in that relation. It prescribes, arranges, and secures 
all the privileges, duties, obligations, honors, and emoluments of 
the King and the subjects. Neither of them can claim more 
than it stipulates and guarantees, and neither of them can right- 
fully be deprived of any of them. 

From the premises now before us, and the light given to us in 
these scriptures and those in the margin, we learn — 

First, That God is the author of the constitution of the King- 
dom of Heaven; that he propounded it to the Word that was made 
flesh, before the world was, in prospect of all the developments of 
creation. 

Second. That the Word accepted it, because the will of God 
was always his delight ; therefore he said, *' I come to do thy 
will, God V Hence ^'God has so lovea the world as to give his 
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not 
perish, but obtain eternal life.'' 

Third, That in consequence *'all authority in heaven and 
earth'' was given to Jesus Christ, and all orders of intelligence 
subjected to him, that he might be King over all, and have the 
power of giving eternal life to his people."^ 

Fourth. That the earth is now the Lord's, the present tem- 
poral territory of his kingdom ; that the heathen people are given 
to him for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
for his possession ; that all ends of the earth are his, and all do- 
minions, kindreds, tribes, tongues, and people shall yet serve 
him on earth and glorify him in heaven. f 

♦ Matt, xxvii.: ib. ii. 44, Tii. 27. f Psalms ii. 6-8; Ixxii. 2-18. Daniel. 



154 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Fifth. That all that he redeems are his seed — his subjects; 
that he will have their faith, confidence, esteem, admiration, and 
gratitude forever ; that he will be worshipped, honored, and re- 
vered by them in a world without end ; that God, angels, and 
saints will delight in him forever and ever/^^ He has, therefore, 
to raise the dead, judge the world, and to present the redeemed 
pure, holy, happy, and triumphant before his Father, and then to 
give up his kingdom to God. 

To comprehend in any adequate idea the constitution of this 
kingdom, we must learn more than its history, or the way in 
which it was introduced and propounded. We must regard all 
the elements of the kingdom as constitutional elements ; the King 
as a constitutional King ; the subjects, laws, and territory, in- 
cluding the ultimate inheritance, as constitutional subjects, laws, 
territory, inheritance ; and, therefore, we shall speak of them in 
detail. 

THE KING 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the constitutional monarch of the 
Kingdom of Heaven. The privileges guaranteed to him in re- 
ference to the kingdom are as follows : 

As King, he is to be the oracle of God — to have the disposal of 
the Holy Spirit — to be Prophet and High-Priest of the Temple 
of God — to have the throne of his Father — to be Governor of all 
nations on earth, and head of all hierarchs and powers in heaven 
— the supreme Lawgiver, the only Saviour — the resurrection and 
the life, the ultimate and final Judge of all, and the Heir of all 
things. 

These honors, privileges, and powers are secured to him by 
the irrevocable grant of the God and Father of all ; therefore, as 
said Isaiah, " The Lord cometh with a strong hand, and his arm 
shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work 
before him.^' "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.'^ 
"Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. '^ "I have 
made him a leader and commander of the people'^ — " a light to 
the Gentiles^' — ''salvation to the ends of the earth, ^^ — "a Priest 
forever after the order of Melchizedek.^^ " Sit thou at my right 
hand till I make thy foes thy footstool.'^ "The government shall 
be upon his shoulders.^' ''All things are delivered to me of my 

* Rev. V. 9-14; xiv. 1-5; xvi. 3-4; xxi. 9-27. Eph. i. 20, 21. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 155 

Father/' "He is Lord of the dead and living/' "Angels, au- 
thorities, and powers are subjected to him/' " The Father gave 
the Spirit without measure to him/' "He received of the Father 
the promise of the Holy Spirit/' " The Kingdom is the Lord's, 
ani he is the governor among the nations/' "He shall have do- 
minion from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the 
earth/' " They shall fear thee as long as sun and moon endure 
to all generations/' "The Father has committed all judgment 
to the Son/' 

But, not to weary the reader with quotations and proofs, we 
shall give but another: — "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; 
my elect, in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon 
him. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not 
fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth ; 
and the isles shall wait for his law." "I the Lord have called 
thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand and keep thee, and 
give thee for a covenant [a constitutiox] of the people, for a liglit 
to the Gentiles — to open the blind eyes, and bring out the prison- 
ers from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the 
prison-house." 

THE SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM. 

They are all born again. Their privileges and honors are the 
following : — 

First. Their constitutional King is the only-begotten Son of 
God ; whose titles and honors are — Image of the invisible God — 
Effulgence of the Father's glory — Emanuel — Upholder of the 
universe — Prophet of the Prophets — High-Priest of the Temple 
of God — King of kings — Lord of lords — the only Potentate- 
Commander and covenant of the people — Captain of Salvation — 
Counsellor, Lawgiver, Redeemer, Deliverer, Mediator, Saviour, 
Advocate, Judge. He is the Sun of Righteousness, Prince of 
Peace, Lamb of God, Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and 
Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star, Light of the 
World, the Faithful and True Witness, Bishop of Souls, Great 
Shepherd of the Sheep, Head of the Church, Lord of all. Heir 
of the Universe, the Resurrection and the Life, the Son of Man, 
the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Amen, 
&c. &c. Such is the Christian's King, whose assistance in all 
these characters, offices, and relations, as exhibited under all these 
figures, is guaranteed to him in the Constitution. Indeed, it is all 



156 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

expressed in one promise : — ^^I ivill be your God, and you shall be 
my people,'* 

Second. It is guaranteed that *Hheir sins and iniquities are to 
be remembered no more/' " There is no condemnation to them 
who are under Christ/' *' Sin shall not have dominion nor lord 
it over them/' *' The Lord imputeth to them no sin." "They 
are all pardoned, justified, and saved from sin." 

Third. They are adopted into the family of God ; madt soixa 
and daughters of the Lord Almighty, children of God, and heirs 
— -joint heirs — with Christ. They have an Advocate in the hea- 
vens, through whom their persons and prayers are accepted. 

Fourth. They all know the Lord. "All thy children shall be 
taught of God." The Holy Spirit of God writes the law of God 
upon their hearts, and inscribes it upon their understanding; so 
that they need not teach every one his fellow-citizen to know the 
Lord, "for they all know him, from the least to the greatest." 
They are sanctified through the truth — separated and consecrated 
to God. 

Fifth. They have the promise of a resurrection from the dead, 
and eternal life ; an inheritance incorruptible, undetiled, and un- 
fading — new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness 
alone shall dwell forever. 

Such are the constitutional rights and privileges of the citizens 
of the Kingdom of Heaven. And these have obtained for thera • 
the following titles and honors: — Kingdom of Heaven; Israel cf 
God; chosen generation; body of Christ; children of God; habi- 
tation of God ; family of God ; Jerusalem from above ; Mount 
Zion; peculiar people; the elect of God; holy nation ; temple of 
the Holy Spirit ; house of God ; city of the living God ; pillar and 
ground of the truth ; living stones ; seed of Abraham ; citizens of 
heaven; lights of the world; salt of the earth; heirs of God; joint 
heirs with Christ, &c. 

The privileges, honors, and emoluments belong to every citizen 
of the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, they are all comprehended 
in the summary which Paul (from Jeremiah) lays before the be- 
lieving Hebrews : — " This is the constitution which I will make 
with the house of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into 
their mind, and inscribe them upon their hearts; and I will be to 
them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall 
not teach every man his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, 
saying, Know the Lord ; for all shall know me, from the least of 
them to the greatest of them ; because I will be merciful to their 



THE CHIIISIIAN SYSTEM. 157 

unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities I will remember 
no more/^^ To this summary the reader may add those scrip- 
tures in the margin, as confirmatory of the above. f 

THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM. 

The supreme law of this kingdom is love — love to the King and 
love of each other. From this law all its religious homage and 
morality flow. Precepts and examples innumerable present this 
to the mind of all the citizens. The Kingdom of Heaven is di- 
vided into small societies, called churches, or congregations of the 
Lord. Each of these communities, in the reception of members, 
in the education and discipline of them, or in excluding them 
when necessary, is to be governed by the apostolic instructions ; 
for to the Apostles the Saviour committed the management of his 
kingdom. After they had made citizens by preaching the gospel 
and baptizing, they were commanded to teach them to observe 
w^hatsoever the Saviour had commanded them. 

These laws and usages of the Apostles must be learned from 
what the Apostles published to the world, after the ascension and 
co-ronation of the King, as they are recorded in the Acts of the 
Apostles and Epistles ; for we shall see in the sequel that the 
gospel was fully developed, and the whole doctrine of the Reign 
of Christ began to be proclaimed in Jerusalem, on the first Pente- 
cost after the ascension. 

The old Jewish constitution was promulgated first on Sinai on 
the first Pentecost after the redemption of Israel from Egyptian 
bondage ; and from that day, and what is written after it in Exo- 
dus and Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, all the laAvs, man- 
ners, and customs authorized by the national constitution are to 
be found. They are not to be sought after in Genesis, nor in the 
antecedent economy. Neither are the statutes and laws of the 
Christian kingdom to be sought for in the Jewish scriptures, nor 
antecedent to the day of Pentecost ; except so far as our Lord 
himself, during his lifetime, propounded the doctrine of his reign. 
But of this when we ascertain the commencement of this kingdom. 

There is one universal law of naturalization, or for making 
citizens out of all nations, enjoined upon those citizens of the 
kingdom who are engaged in the work of proselytism ; but the 

* Hebrews Tiii. 10-13. f Rom. vi. 5, 6, 14; viii. 1, 33-39. 1 Cor. vi 11. Eph. i. 7; 
u. 6, 19, 21, 22. Col. i. 13, 14. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 7. 2 Pet. i. 10, 11. 1 John ii. 2. 



158 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

laws of this kingdom, like the laws of every other kingdom, are 
obligatory only on the citizens. 

The weekly celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus, 
and the weekly meeting of the disciples of Christ for this purpose, 
and for the edification of one another in their most holy faith, are 
the only positive statutes of the kingdom ; and, therefore, there is 
no law, statute, or observance in this kingdom, that in the least 
retards its extension from east to west, from north to South, cr 
that can prevent its progress in all nations of the world. 

It is, however, worthy of observation, that every part of the 
Christian worship in the small communities spread over the ter- 
ritory of the Kingdom of Heaven, like so many candlesticks in a 
large edifice, are designed to enlighten and convert the world ; 
and, therefore, in all the meetings of the family of God, they are 
to keep this supremely in view ; and to regard themselves as the 
" pillar and ground of the truth.^^ 

Concerning the details of the laws of the kingdom we cannot 
now speak particularly. ** The favor of God which brings salva- 
tion teaches all the citizens of heaven, that, denying all ungod- 
liness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and 
godly in this present world, expecting the blessed hope — namely, 
the appearing of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour 
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works.'' These things the Bishops of every community 
should teach and enforce ; for such is the spirit and such is the 
object of all the laws and statutes of the Kingdom of Heaven. 



THE TERRITORY. 

In all other kingdoms, except the Kingdom of Heaven, the 
territory is the national domain and inheritance. It was so in tho 
first Kingdom of God under the constitution from Sinai. But in 
the typical kingdom they lived at a distance from their inheritance 
for one generation. During these forty years, in which they 
pitched their tents in the wilderness, God was their inheritance. 
He rained bread from heaven upon them, and sent them flesh upon 
the east wind. He made the flinty rock Horeb a living spring, 
whose stream followed them all the way to Jordan. He renewed 
their garments every day, so that for forty years they grew not 
v>ld, nor needed a single patch. A pillar of fire by night and a 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTE3I. 159 

cloud by day guided them towards Canaan, the land of their in- 
heritance. 

The whoie earth is the present territory of the Kingdom of 
Heaven, but the new heavens and earth are to be its inheritance. 
The earth, indeed, is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; but the 
children of God and the children of the wicked one — the wheat 
and the darnel — are both planted in it, and must grow together 
till the harvest. The righteous have their bread and water 
guaranteed to them while they live ; for " godliness is profitable 
to all things, having promise of the life that now is, as well as of 
that which is to come.'^ But the joint heirs of Christ are never 
taught to regard the earth as their inheritance. They may in- 
deed, say, though poor and penniless, "All things are ours; 
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or 
death, or things present, or things to come — all are ours; and we 
are Christ's, and Christ is God's/^ But, like the Jews on their 
journey to Canaan, "they seek a better country'^ — "they seek a 
city yet to come.^^ " My kingdom, '^ says Jesus, " is not of this 
world.^^ And, therefore, in the world, Christians are strangers 
and pilgrims, and may expect tribulation. 

The earth is the present i^^ea#e of war; therefore, all Christians 
in the territory are soldiers. Their expenses, their rations, are 
allowed, the arms and munitions of war are supplied them from 
the magazines in Mount Zion, the stronghold and fortress of the 
kingdom ; where the King, the heads of departments, and all the 
legions of angels, are resident. So that on entering the army of 
the faith every soldier is panoplied with the armor of God ; and 
when inducted into the heavenly tactics under the Captain of Sal- 
vation, he is expected to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and to 
fight the good fight of faith courageously and victoriously. 

The Kingdom of Heaven on this territory is greatly opposed 
by the kingdom of Satan, which ever seeks to make an inheritance 
out of the territory of the militant kingdom of righteousness ; and 
therefore the citizens have not to wrestle with flesh and blood, 
but with the rulers of the darkness of this world — with spiritual 
wickedness in high places. 

Ever since the commencement of this kingdom, the govern- 
ments of this world have Mther been directly opposed to it, or, at 
best, pretended friends ; and therefore their influence has always 
been opposed to the true spirit and genius of the Christian in- 
stitution. Christians have nothing to expect from them except 
liberty of conscience and protection from violence, while leadings 



IGO THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

peaceable and quiet lives, in all godliness and honesty, till Jesus 
take to himself his great power, and hurl all these potentates 
from their thrones and make his cause triumphant, — a consumma- 
tion devoutly to be wished, and which .cannot now be regarded as 
far distant. 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Touching the manners and customs of the Kingdom of Heaven, 
they are such as generally obtained in the land of Judea and in 
the East at the time of its erection: or, rather, they are the simple 
manners and customs of the family-worsliip age of the world. 
These are consecrated by simply performing them with a regard 
to Jesus Christ, or from the motives prompted by the doctrine of 
the Reign of Heaven. As we treat our natural brothers and sis- 
ters in public and in private — as we address, salute, and converse 
with them — as we transact all family business, and conduct the 
affairs of the household — so are Christians to treat one another. 
There is no other virtue or utility in these than as they cherish 
brotherly kindness and love and are regarded to the Lord. 



INDUCTION INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

Into every kingdom, human or divine, there is a legal door of 
admission. This is, in the statute-book of Heaven, called a hirih. 
Into the kingdom of nature we are born. Into the future and 
ultimate kingdom of glory we enter, soul and body, by being born 
from the grave. As Christ, the first-born from the dead, entered 
the heavenly kingdom, so must all his brethren. And as to this 
kingdom of Avhich we speak, as now existing in this world, Jesus 
himself taught that into it no person can legally enter who is not 
born again, or " horn of water and the SpiritJ'^ The analogy is 
complete between the kingdoms of nature, of grace, and of glory. 
Hence we have natural birth, metaphorical or spiritual birth, and 
supernatural birth. There is a being born of the flesh — born of 
the Spirit — born of the grave; and there is a kingdom for the 
flesh — a kingdom for the Spirit — and a kingdom for the glorified 
man. 

This second or new birth, which inducts into the Kingdom of 
Ood, is always subsequent to a death and burial, as it will be into 

* John iii. 5. Titus iii. 5, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 161 

the everlasting kingdom of glory. It is indeed a literal death and 
burial before a literal resurrection into the heavenly and eternal 
kingdom. It is also a metaphorical or figurative death and burial, 
before the figurative resurrection or new birth into the Kingdom 
of Heaven. Water is the element in which this burial and resur- 
rection is performed, according to the constitutional laws of the 
Kingdom of Heaven. Hence Jesus connects the water and the 
Spirit when speaking of entering this Kingdom of God. 

In naturalizing aliens, the commandment of the King is first — 
submit to them the Constitution, or preacli to tliem the doctrine of 
the kingdom. Soon as they understand and believe this, and are 
desirous of being translated into the Kingdom of Christ and of 
God, that "they may receive the remission of sins and inheritance 
among all that are sanctified,'' they are to be buried in water into 
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and raised out of 
it confessing their death to sin, their faith in Christ's sacrifice 
and resurrection: and thus they are born of water and the Spirit, 
and constituted citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. To as many 
as thus receive him, he gives privilege to become the children of God ; 
for they are " horn of GoW^ — born of God, when born of water 
and the Spirit, because this is the institution of God. 

In these days of apostasy men have sought out many inven- 
tions. Some have attempted to get into the Kingdom of Heaven 
without being born at all. Others imagine that they can be born 
of the Spirit, without water, and that the King is as well pleased 
with them who have been born without a mother, as those who 
are lawfully born of father and mother. Others think that neither 
Spirit nor water is necessary ; but if they are politically born of 
the flesh, they can enter the kingdom as rightfully as the Jewish 
circumcised infants enter the earthly kingdom of Israel. But as 
we have no faith in any modern improvements of the gospel, 
change or amendment of the constitution of the Kingdom of 
Heaven, we must leave them to account to the King himself, who 
^^have transgressed the law, changed the ordinance, and broken the 
everlasting covenant ;''^ and proceed to the question, 

THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM. 

When did the Kingdom of Heaven commence? *'With the 
ministry of John,'' says one : " With tiie ministry of Jesus," says 

* Isaiah xxiv. 5. 
14* 



162 - THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

another: "With the first sending out of the twelve Apostles," 
says a third: "At the resurrection of Jesus/' says a fourth : "At 
none of them ; but by degrees from the baptism of John till the 
fall of Jerusalem/' says a fifth. 

The reader will please remember that there are at least j^ve 
elements essential to a perfectly-organized kingdom, and that it 
may be contemplated in reference to one or more of these com- 
ponent parts. Henc3 the numerous and various parables of the 
Saviour. Sometimes he speaks of the administration of its affairs 
— of its principles in the heart — of its subjects — of its King — of 
its territory — of its progress — of various incidents in its history. 
Hence the parable of the sower — of the wheat and darnel — of the 
leaven — of the merchant seeking goodly pearls — of the grain of 
mustard-seed — of the sw^eep-net — of the marriage of a king's 
son — of a nobleman going into a far country — of the ten virgins 
— of the talents — of the sheep and goats — present to our view the 
Kingdom of Heaven in different attitudes, either in its elements 
or in its history — its commencement or its close. 

The approaching or the coming of the Keign of Heaven can 
properly have respect only to one or two of the elements of a 
kingdom ; or to the formal exhibition of that whole organization 
of society which we call a kingdom. It can have no proper allu- 
sion to its territory ; for that was created and located before man 
was created. It cannot allude either to the persons who were 
constituted subjects, for they too were in existence before tha 
kingdom commenced. It cannot allude to the birth or baptism of 
the King, for it w^as not till after these that Jesus began to pro- 
claim its coming or approach. It cannot have reference to the 
ministry of John or of Jesus, any more than to the patriarchal or 
Jewish dispensations ; because Jesus did not begin to proclaim 
the coming of this reign till after John icas cast into prison. This 
is a fact of so much importance, that Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
distinctly and substantially declare, that in conformity to ancient 
predictions, Jesus was to begin to proclaim in Galilee^ and that he 
did not commence to proclaim the doctrine of the gospel of the coming 
of the Beign, till after John's ministry ceased and he was cast into 
prison. In this assertion the Evangelists agree : " Now Jesus, 
[after his baptism and temptation in the wilderness,] hearing that 
John was imprisoned, retired into Galilee ; and, having left Naza- 
reth, resided at Capernaum. For thus saith the Prophet,'' &c» 
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, saying, ^^ Reform, for tht 



THE CHRIST! VN SYSTEM. 103 

Feign of Heaven approaclies ;^' or, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at 
Land/' as says the common version.^ 

Some Baptists, for the sake of immersion, and some of our 
1 rethren in the Reformation, for the sake of immersion for the 
1 emission of sins, seem desirous to have John in the Kingdom of 
Heaven, and to date the commencement of the Christian dispen- 
sation with the first appearance of John the Immerser. They 
allege in support of this hypothesis that Jesus said, " The Law 
and the Prophets continued till John,'' (the only instructors of 
men ;) " since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and 
every man presses into it." *' Publicans and harlots show you the 
way into the kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus to the Pharisees. 
Again, "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees! for you shut the 
Kingdom of Heaven against men, and will neither enter your- 
selves, nor permit others that would to enter." " The Kingdom 
of God is within you." " The Kingdom of Heaven has overtaken 
you." From these premises they infer that the Kingdom of 
Heaven was actually set up by John the Baptist: "for," say 
they, " how could men and women e^iter into a kingdom which 
was not set up ? And did not John immerse for the remission 
of sins, and call upon men to repent and reform in order to 
baptism?" 

The Pedobaptists, too, will have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
Moses, David, and all the circumcised Jews, in the Kingdom of 
Heaven, because Jesus said, " Before Abraham was, T am ;" 
' Abraham saw my day and was glad ;" and Paul says Moses 
esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the trea- 
sures of Egypt, and forsook Egypt in faith of the Christian re- 
compense of reward. Yes, and Paul affirms that Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, and their families, who dwelt in tents in the promised land, 
looked not only to the rest in Canaan, but they sought a heavenly 
country, and expected the city of foundations, whose builder and 
maker is God. Thus the Jews had Christ in the manna and in 
the rock, and baptism in the cloud and in the sea. 

The mistake is specifically the same. Christ was promised 
and prefigured before he came, and the Kingdom of Heaven was 
promised and preached by John, by Jesus, the Twelve, and the 
Seventy, (who went about proclaiming the glad tidings of the 
Eeign,) before the Reign of Christ or Kingdom of Heaven com- 
menced. Because Christ was promised and prefigured in the 

* Matt. iv. 12; Mark i. 14; Luke iii. 30; iv. 14. 



164 THE CHRISTIAIS SYSTEM. 

patriarchal and Jewish ages, the Pedobaptists will have tho 
Kingdom of Heaven on earth since the days of Abel ; and because 
the glad tidings of the Reign and Kingdom of Heaven and the 
principles of the new and heavenly order of society were pro- 
mulgated by John, the Baptists will have John the Baptist in the 
Kingdom of Heaven, and the very person who set it up. 

Let us, then, examine this matter with all candor: and first, we 
shall place the passages above quoted out of the testimonies of 
the Evangelists on one side, and the following passages on the 
other side ; and then see if we can reconcile them. John says, 
"Keform, for the Reign of God approaches.^^ Jesus began to 
proclaim, saying, " Reform, for the Reign or Kingdom of Heaven 
is at hand.^^ He also commanded the Twelve and the Seventy 
to peregrinate all Judea, making the same proclamation.^" Of 
John the Baptist he said, though greater than all the Prophets, 
" The least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.^^ 

Thus, after John was beheaded, we have some eighty-four 
preachers daily proclaiming the nigh approach of the Reign of 
God; and Jesus often assuring his- disciples that the Kingdom of 
God was soon to appear, and that some of his companions would 
see him enter upon his Reign before they died, — and yet the 
Kingdom was set up by John ! Scribes and Pharisees were shut- 
ting the Kingdom against men, when Jesus had only given the 
keys to Peter ! John the Baptist was in the kingdom, and the 
least in the kingdom is greater than he ! More than eighty preach- 
ers say, *' Reform, for the Reign of Heaven is at hand /' and John 
the Baptist, before he died, introduced all Judea and Jerusalem 
into it! How, then, shall we reconcile these apparent contradic- 
tions ? Make both sides figurative, and it may be done. Regard 
both sides literally, and it cannot be done ! To say that the king- 
dom came in one point of view at one time, and in another point 
of view at another time, is only to say that it came in difterent 
senses — literally and figuratively. For our part, we must believe 
that the Kingdom of Heaven began, or the Reign of Heaven 
literally and truly commenced, in one day. 

Many of its principles were developed by the ancient Prophets; 
David, Isaiah, and others wrote much concerning it ; John the 
Baptist proclaimed its immediate and near approach, and more 
fully developed its spiritual design ; therefore he was superior to 

* Matt. X. 8 ; Luke i. 1-11. When eating the last supper he distinctly said that 
the Reign of God was then future. Luke xxii. 18. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSIEM. 165 

them. Jesus often unfolded its character and design in various 
similitudes ; and every one who understood and received these 
principles was said to "press into the kingdom/' or to have 
*' the kingdom within them ;" and wherever these principles were 
promulgated, ''the Kingdom of Heaven^' was said to "come nigh'' 
to that people, or to have " overtaken them /' and those who op 
posed these principles, and interposed their authority to prevent 
others from receiving them, were said to *' shut the Kingdom of 
Beaven against men /' and thus all these scriptures must of ne- 
cessity be understood from the contexts in which they stand : for 
it was impossible that the Reign of Heaven could literally com- 
mence ^Hill Jesus was glorified,^^ "received the promise of the 
Holy Spirit,'' was " made Lord and Christ," and " sat dow^n with 
his Father upon his throne" — for he left the earth to receive a 
'kingdom.'^ 

To make this, if possible, still more evident, we ask. When did 
the Kingdom of God, established hy Moses among the seed of Ahror 
ham, cease? This question penetrates the whole nature and ne- 
cessity of the case; for will any one suppose that there were two 
Kingdoms of God on earth at one and the same time? Certainly 
the one ceased before the other began. 

Now, that the Kingdom of God, ministered by Moses, had not 
ceased during the personal ministry of the Messiah on earth, is, 
we think, abundantly evident from the following facts and docu- 
ments: — 

First. Jesus was to have appeared, and did appear, "m the end 
of the world,^^ or last days of the first kingdom of God. "In the 
conclusion of the age has he appeared, to put away sin by the 
sacrifice of himself." The "world to come" w^as one of the 
names of the gospel age. He has not subjected "the world to 
come" to angels, as he did the world past, says Paul to the He- 
brews. He appeared, then, not in the beginning of the gospel 
age, but in the end of the Jewish age. 

Second. The Temple was the house of God to the very close 
of the life of Jesus. For it was not till the Jewish ministry con- 
spired to kill him that he deserted it. At the last festival of his 
life, and immediately before he fell into their hands, on walking 
out of the temple, he said, "Behold, your house is deserted, for 
you shall not see me henceforth till you shall say, Blessed be he 
that comes in the name of the Lord!" It was his Father's house, 

* Luke xix. 11-15. 



168 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the house of God, till that moment. Then, indeed, the glor^ 
departed. 

Third. The Jewish offerings and service, as a divine institu- 
tion, continued till the condemnation of Jesus. He sent the 
cleansed leper to the priest to make the offering commanded in 
the lavr. He commanded the people to hear the doctors of the 
law who sat in Moses^ chair. He paid the didrachma. He was a 
minister of the circumcision. He lived under, not after, the law. 
He kept all its ordinances, and caused all his disciples to regard 
it in its primitive import and authority to the last passover. hi' 
deed, it could not he disannulled, for it was not consummated till on 
the cross he said, "It is finished.^' 

Fourth. When he visited Jerusalem the last time, and in the 
last parable pronounced to them, he told them plainly that '* the 
Kingdom of God should be taken from them^' and given to a na- 
tion who should make a better use of the honors of the kingdom; 
consequently at that time the Jews had the Kingdom of God. 

Fifth. It was not until his death that the veil of the Temple 
was rent; that the things *' which could be shaken were shaken. '' 
It was then, and not till then, that he nailed the legal institution 
to the cross. Then, and not till then, was the middle wall of 
partition broken down. The last Sabbath he slept in the grave. 
From the moment of his death there ivas no life m the old Kingdom 
of God. The temple was deserted, its veil rent, its foundations 
shaken, the city devoted, the ritual abolished, and as after death 
the judgment — the temple, city, and nation waited for the day of 
his vengeance. 

The Kingdom of God was evidently in the Jewish institution 
till Jesus died. Hence the Kingdom of Heaven came not while 
Jesus lived. In anticipation, they who believed the gospel of the 
kingdom i^ceived the Kingdom of God, just as in anticipation he 
said, " I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,^' 
before he began to suffer ; and as he said, " This cup is the new 
testament in my blood, shed for the remission of the sins of 
niany,^' before it was shed. So while the doctrines of this reign 
— faith, repentance, baptism, and a new principle of sonship to 
Abraham — were promulging by John, {he Twelve, the Seventy, 
and by Himself, the Kingdom of Heaven was approaching ; and 
those who received these principles by anticipation were said to 
enter into the kingdom, or to have the kingdom within them. 

The principles of any reign or revolution are always promulgcsd, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 167 

debated, and canvassed before a new order of things is set up. A 
party is formed upon these principles before strength is acquired, 
or a leader obtained competent to the commencement of a new 
order of things. In society, as in nature, we have first the blade, 
then the stem, and then the ripe corn in the ear. ^Ye call it wheat, 
or we call it corn, when we have only the promise in the blade. 
Bf such a figure of speech the Kingdom of God was spoken of, 
v\ hile as yet only its principles were promulging. 

When thege American States were colonial subjects of the King 
of England, and long before the setting up of a republic, repub- 
lican doctrines were promulged and debated. The believers and 
advocates of these doctrines were called republicans, while as 
yet there was not a republic on this continent. He who dates the 
commencement of the Kingdom of Heaven from the ministry of 
John the Baptist sympathizes with him who dates the American 
republics from the first promulgation of the republican principles, 
or from the formation of a republican party in the British colonies. 
But, as a faithful and intelligent historian, in writing the history 
of the American republics, com.mences with the history of the 
first promulgation of these principles, and records the sayings and 
deeds of the first promulgers of the new doctrines ; so the sacred 
historians began their history of the Kingdom of Heaven with 
the appearance of John in the wilderness of Judea, preaching the 
Messiah, faith, repentance, a holy life, and raising up a new race 
of Israelites, on the principle of faith rather than of flesh ; for this, 
in truth, was the "blade^^ of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Having from all these considerations seen that until the death 
of the Messiah his kingdom could not commence ; and having 
seen from the record itself that it did not commence before his 
resurrection, we proceed to the development of things after his 
resurrection, to ascertain the day on which this kingdom was set 
up, or the Reign of Heaven began. 

The writer to whom we are most indebted for an orderly and 
continued narrative of the afiairs of the Kingdom of Heaven is 
the Evangelist Luke. His history begins with the angelic an- 
nunciations of the nativity of John and Jesus, and ends with the 
appeara7:se of the great standard-bearer of the Cross in Imperial 
Rome, A.n. 64. That part of his history to which we now look 
as a guide to the afifairs of the commencement of the Reign is the 
notices which he makes of i\\Q forty days v^hioh the Lord spent in 
his crucified body, previous to his ascension. The reader ought 



i68 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

not to be told (for he ought to know) that Jesus rose in the same 
body in which he was crucified, and in the reanimated fleshly 
body did eat, drink, and converse with his Apostles and friends 
for forty days. That body w^as not changed till, like the living 
saints w4io shall be on the earth at his second personal coming, 
it was made spiritual, incorruptible, and glorious at the instant 
ot his ascension. So that the man Christ Jesus was made like to 
all his brethren in his death, burial, resurrection, transfigurati.n, 
i^scension, and glorification ; or, rather, they shall be made to re- 
si^mble him in all these respects. 

The Apostles testify that they saw him ascend — that a cloud 
received him out of their sight — that angels descended to inform 
them that he was taken up into heaven, not to return for a long 
time — that he ascended far above all the visible heavens, and now 
fills all things. Stephen, when dying, saw him standing on the 
right hand of God. 

Much attention is due to all the incidents of these forty days, 
— as much, at least, as to the forty days spent by Moses in the 
mount with God in the affairs of the preceding Kingdom of God. 
For the risen Messiah makes the affairs of his approaching king- 
dom the principal topic of these forty days."^ Towards the close 
of these days, and immediately before his ascension, he gave the 
commission to his Apostles concerning the setting up of this 
kingdom. ''AH authority in heaven and in earth is given to me: 
go, tlierefore,^^ said he, "convert the nations,^^ [announce the gos- 
pel to evei^y creature,] "immersing them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to 
observe all the things which I have commanded you ; and, behold ! 
I am Avith you always, even to the conclusion of this state. ^^f 
"But continue in the city of Jerusalem until you be invested with 
power from on high.^' Thus, according to his promise and the 
ancient prophecy, it was to ^' begin at JerusalemJ^t 

Tho risen Saviour thus directs our attention to Jerusalem as 
the place, and to a period distant "not many days^' as the time, of 
the beginning of his reign. The great facts of the death, burial, 
and resurrection of Jesus, not being yet fully developed to his 
Apostles, they w^ere not qualified to take any steps to the setting 
np of a kingdom which vras to be founded upon Christ crucijied. 
They needed an interpreter of these facts, and a supernatural ad- 

* Acts i. 3. t Matt, xxviii. 17, 20. Mark xv. 16. Luke xxi. 47, 48, 

X Isaiah ii. 3. Micah iv. 2. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. IGO 

vocate of the pretensions of the King, before they could lay the 
foundation of his kingdom. 

Again, the King himself must be glorified before his authority 
could be established on earth ; for till he received the promise of 
the Spirit from his Father, and was placed on his throne, the 
Apostles could not receive it ; so that Christ's ascension to hea- 
ven, and coronation, were indispensable to the commencement of 
this Eeign of Heaven. 

Here let us pause for a moment, — leave the earth, and on the 
wings of faith in the testimony of Prophets and Apostles, the 
two witnesses for Jesus, let us follow him to heaven and ascer- 
tain his reception into the heaven of heavens, and exaltation to 
the right hand of God. 



THE ASCENSION OF THE MESSIAH. 

Prophets and Apostles must now be heard. David, by the 
Spirit, says, " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even 
thousands of angels ; the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the 
holy place. Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity 
captive; thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious, 
that the Lord God might dwell among them.^'* The same Prophet, 
in speaking of the solemn and joyful procession at the carrying 
up of the ark of the ancient constitution to Mount Zion, turns his 
eyes from the type to the^ntitype, and thus describes the entrance 
of the Messiah into Heaven: — "Who shall ascend into the hill of 
God V^ The attendant^ angels in the train of the Messiah, ap- 
proaching the heaven of heavens, shout, "Lift up your heads, 
you gates! be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of 
glory shall come in.'^ Those within, filled with astonishment 
that any one should so confidently demand admission into those 
gates so long barred against the sons of men, responsive shout, 
*' Who is the King of glory?'' The angels in attendance upon the 
Messiah reply, in strains %s triumphant, " The Lord, strong and 
mighty! the Lord, mighty in battle!" and, still more exultingly 
triumphant, shout, "Lift up your heads, you gates! even lift 
them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come 
in. Who is the King of glory? He is the Lord of hosts! he is 
the King of glory !"t 

* Psalm Ixviii. 8. f Psalm xxv. 

15 



170 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



CORONATION OF THE MESSIAH. 

Every thing in its proper order. He that ascended first de- 
scended. Jesus died, was buried, raised from the dead, ascended, 
and was crowned Lord of all. In the presence of all the heavenly 
hierarchs, the four living creatures, the twenty-four seniors, and 
ten thousand times ten thousand angels, he presents himself be- 
fore the throne. So soon as the First-Born from the dead appears 
in the palace-royal of the universe, his Father and his God, in his 
inaugural address, when anointing him Lord of all, says, "Let all 
the angels of God worship him.'' " Sit thou at my right hand, 
till I make thy enemies thy footstool.'' "Jehovah shall send out 
of Zion [Jerusalem] the rod of thy strength : rule thou in the 
midst of thine enemies, [the city of thy strongest foes."] "Thy 
people, willing in the day of thy power, shall come to thee. In 
the beauty of holiness, more than the womb of the morning, shalt 
thou have the dew of thy progeny. The Lord hath sworn, and 
will not repent. Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Mel- 
chizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings 
[that oppose thee] in the day of his wrath." " Thy throne, 
God, endures forever : the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of 
rectitude. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity ; 
therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of joy 
above thy fellows. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 
foundations of the earth, p^nd the heavens are the works of thy 
hand : they shall perish, but thou remainest ; and they shall all 
grow old as does a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them 
up, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy 
years shall not fail."^* 

Thus God highly exalted him, and did set him over all thiS 
works of his hands, and gave him a name and an honor above 
every name in heaven and on earth, that at the name of Jesus 
glorified every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, to the 
glory of God. 

"Now we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the an^ 
gels, that he might taste death for all, on account of the sufieringi 
of death, crowned with glory and honor." Now " angels, author- 
ities, principalities, and powers are subjected to him." "Ilia 
enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall hia 
crown flourish." 

* Psalm xc. Jind Hebrews i. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 171 

The Holy Spirit sent do\Yn by Jesus from heaTcn, on the Pen- 
tecost after his resurrection, to the disciples in attendance in Je- 
rusalem, informs the Apostles of all that had been transacted in 
heaven during the week after his ascension, and till that day. 
Peter now, filled with that promised Spirit, informs the immense 
concourse assembled on the great day of Pentecost, that God had 
made that Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ — 
exalted him a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance to 
Isiael and remission of sins. 

The first act of his reign was the bestowment of the Holy Spirit, 
according to the prophecy of Joel and his own promise. So soon 
as he received the kingdom from God his Father, he poured out 
the blessings of his favor upon his friends ; he fulfilled all his 
promises to the Apostles, 2indi forgave three thousand of his fiercest 
enemies. He received pardons and gifts for them that did rebel, 
and shed forth abundantly all spiritual gifts on the little flock to 
whom it pleased the Father to give the kingdom. Thus com- 
menced the Reign of Heaven, on the day of Pentecost, in the 
person of the Messiah, the Son of God, and the anointed Monarch 
of the universe. Under him his people, saved from their sins, 
have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken nor removed. 

But, as the erection of the Jewish tabernacle, after the com- 
mencement of the first Kingdom of God, was the work of some 
time, and of united and combined efi'ort on the part of those 
raised up and qualified for the work ; so was the complete erec- 
tion of the new temple of God. The Apostles, as wise master- 
builders, laid the foundation — promulged the constitution, laws, 
and institutions of the King, and raised the standard of the king- 
dom in many towns, cities, and countries, for the space of forty 
years. Some of them not only saw *' the Son of Man enter upon 
his reign, ^' and the Kingdom of God commence on Pentecost, 
and carry his conquests over Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth ; but they saw the Lord " come with power and 
awful glory,'^ and accomplish all his predictions on the deserted 
and devoted temple. Thus they saw a bright display of the 
golden sceptre of his grace in forgiving those who bowed to his 
authority, and an appalling exhibition of the iron rod of his wrath 
in taking vengeance on his enemies who would not have him to 
reign over them. 



172 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



PRESENT ADMINISTRATION OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

During the personal absence of the King, he has committed 
the management of this kingdom to stewards. These were, first, 
Apostles ; next to them. Prophets ; next, teachers ; then, assist- 
ants or helpers ; then, directors or presidents, all furnished w^ith 
gifts, knowledge, and character, suited to their respective func- 
tions. Besides these, many persons possessed of miraculous 
powers — gifts of healing and speaking foreign languages — were 
employed in setting up and putting in order the communities com- 
posing the Kingdom of Heaven. Angels also were employed, and 
are still employed, under the great King in administering to them 
who are heirs of salvation. For Jesus now, as Lord of all, has 
the Holy Spirit at his disposal, and all the angels of God ; and 
these are employed by him in the affairs of his kingdom."^ 

The Apostles were plenipotentiaries and ambassadors for Jesus, 
and had all authority delegated to them from the King. Hence 
every thing was first taught and enjoined by them. They were 
the first preachers, teachers, pastors, overseers, and ministers in 
the kingdom, and had the direction and management of all its 
affair s.f 

The communities collected and set in order by the Apostles 
were called the congregation of Christy and all these taken together 
are sometimes called the Kingdom of God, But the phrases 
** church of God,^^ or "congregation of Christ,^' and the phrases 
*' Kingdom of Heaven,^' or "Kingdom of God,'' do not always 
nor exactly represent the same thing. The elements of the King- 
dom of Heaven, it will be remembered, are not simply its sub- 
jects, and therefore not simply the congregation of disciples of 
Christ. But as these communities possess the oracles of God, 
are under the laws and institutions of the King, and therefore 
enjo}^ the blessings of the present salvation, they are in the records 
of the Kingdom regarded as the only constitutional citizens of the 
Kingdom of Heaven ; and to them exclusively belongs all the pre- 
sent salvation. Their King is now in heaven, but present wath 
them by his Spirit in their hearts and in all the institutions of hia 
kingdom. 

Every immersed believer, of good behavior, is by the con- 
stitution a free and full citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and 

* Cor. xii. 28. Eph, iv. 11. Ileb. i. 14. f 2 Cor. iii. 6; v. 18-20. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 173 

entitled to all the social privileges and honors of that kingdom. 
Such of these as meet together statedly in one place in obedience 
to the King, or his ambassadors the Apostles, for the observance 
of all the institutions of the King, compose a family, or house, or 
congregation of Christ ; and all these f\imilies or congregations, 
thus organized, constitute the present Kingdom of God in this 
world. So far the phrases Kingdom of Heaven and the congvega' 
lion or hody of Christ are equivalent in signification."^ 

Now, in gathering these communities, and in setting them in 
order, the Apostles had when alive, and, when dead, by their 
writings still have, the sole right of legislating, ordering, and dis- 
posing of all things. But it is not the will of Jesus Christ, be- 
cause it is not adapted to human nature, nor to the present stat^ 
of his kingdom as administered in his absence, that the church 
should be governed by 2iwritte7i document alone. Hence, in every 
city, town, and country where the Apostles gathered a community 
by their own personal labors, or by their assistants, in setting 
them in order, for their edification, and for their usefulness and 
influence in this world, they uniformly appointed elders, or over- 
seers, to labor in the word and teaching, and to preside over the 
whole affairs of the community. To these, also, were added dea- 
cons, or public ministers of the congregation, who, under the di- 
rection of the overseers, were to manage all the affairs of these in- 
dividual families of God. This the very names Bishop and Deacon, 
and all the qualifications enjoined, fairly and fully import. 

But, as all the citizens of th^ kingdom are free men under Christ, 
they all have a voice in the selection of the persons whom the 
Apostles appoint to the offices. The Apostles still appoint all 
persons so elected, possessing the qualifications which they by 
the Holy Spirit prescribed. And if a congregation will not elect to 
these offices the persons possessing these qiialif cations ; or if by a 
wayivardness and selfishness of their own, they should elect those un* 
giialified, and thus disparage those marked out by the possession of 
those gifts ; in either case, they despise the authority of the Ambas- 
sadors of Clirist and must suffer for it. It is indeed the Holy 
Spirit, and not the congregations, which creates Bishops and 
Deacons. The Spirit gives the qualifications, both natural and 
acquired ; and, speaking to the congregations in the written 
oracles, commands their ordination or appointment to the work.f 

* Rom. xii. 4-8. 1 Cor. xii. 27. Heb. iii. 6. 

t Acts y\. 2-7 ; xvi. 23 ; xx. 17. 1 Tim. iii. 1-16. Titus i. 5-10. Heb. xili. 7, 17, 2-1 



174 TH CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

In the present administration of the Kingdom of God, faitJi is 
the PRINCIPLE, and ordinances tliz means, of all spiritual enjoyment, 
AYithout faith in the testimony of God, a person is without God, 
without Christ, and without hope in the world. A Christless 
universe, as respects spiritual life and joy, is t'.e most perfect 
blank which fancy can create. Without faith, nothing in the 
Bible can be enjoyed ; and without it there is to man no Kingdom 
of Heaven in all the dominions of God. 

In the kingdom of nature sense is the principle, and ordinances 
the means, of enjoyment. Without sense, or sensation, nothing in 
nature can be known or enjoyed. All the creative, recuperative, 
and renovating power, wisdom, and goodness of God, exhibited 
in nature, are contained in ordinances. The sun, moon, and stars, 
the clouds, the air, the water, the seasons, day and night, are 
therefore denominated the ordinances of heaven, because God's 
power, wisdom, and goodness are in them, and felt by us only 
through them."^ Now, sense without the ordinances of nature, 
like faith without the ordinances of religion, would be no principle 
of enjoyment ; and the ordinances of nature, without sense, would 
be no means of enjoyment. These are the unalterable decrees 
of God. There is no exception to them ; and there is no rever- 
sion of them. To illustrate and enforce the doctrine of this single 
paragraph is worthy of a volume. The essence, the whole essence, 
of that reformation for which Ave contend, is wrapped up iti this 
decree as above expressed. If it be true, the ground on which 
w^e stand is firm and unchangeable as the Rock of Ages ; if it be 
false, we build upon the sand. Reader, examine it loell! 

In the Kingdom of Heaven, faith is, then, the principle, and 
ordinances the means, of enjoyment ; because all the wisdom, 
power, love, mercy, compassion, or grace of God is in the ordi- 
nances of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and if all grace be in them 
it can only be enjoyed through them. What, then, under the pre- 
sent administration of the Kingdom of Heaven, are the ordinances 
which contain the grace of God ? They are preaching the gospel- 
immersion in the name of Jesus into the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of tlie Holy Spirit — the reading and teaching the 
Living Oracles — the Lord's day — the Lord's supper — fasting — 
prayer — confession of sins — and praise. To these may be added 
other appointments of God, such as exhortation, admonition, dis- 
cipline, &c. ; for these also are ordinances of God; and, indeed, 

* Jeremiah xxxi. 35; 36. Job xxxviii. 31, 33. Jeremiah xxxiii. 25, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 175 

all statutes and commandments are ordinances :^* but we speak not 
at present of those ordinances which concern the good order of 
the kingdom, but ^f those which are primary means of enjoyment. 
These primary and sacred ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven 
are the means of our individual enjoyment of the present salva- 
tion of God. 

Without the sun, there is no solar influence; without the moon, 
there is no lunar influence ; without the stars, there is no sidereal 
influence; without the clouds, there can be no rain ; and without 
the ordinances of the Kingdom of Heaven, there can be no hea- 
venly influence exhibited or felt. There is a peculiar and dis- 
tinctive influence exerted by the sun, moon, and stars ; and yet 
they all give light. So in the ordinances of the Kingdom of 
Heaven: although they all agree in producing certain similar 
effects on the subjects of the kingdom, there is something dis- 
tinctive and peculiar in each of them, so that no one of them can 
be substituted for another. Not one of them can be dispensed 
with ; they are all necessary to the full enjoyment of the Keign 
of Heaven. 

In nature and in religion, all the blessings of God bestowed on 
man are properly classed under two heads. These may be called, 
for illustration, antecedent and conseqvent. The antecedent include 
all those blessings bestowed on man to prepare him for action and 
to induce him to action. The consequent are those which God 
bestows on man through a course of action correspondent to these 
antecedent blessings. For example, all that God did for Adam in 
creating for him the earth and all that it contains, animal, vege- 
table, mineral ; in forming him in his own image ; giving him all 
his physical, intellectual, and moral powers, and investing him 
with all the personal and real estate which elevated him above 
all sublunary beings, were antecedent to any act of Adam ; and 
these furnished him with inducements to love, honor, and obey 
his Creator and benefactor. All that God did for Abraham in 
promises and precepts before his obedience — all that he did for 
the Israelites in bringing them up out of Egypt and redeeming 
them from the tyranny of Pharaoh — was antecedent to the duties 
and observances which he enjoined upon them. And all the 
blessings which Adam, Abraham, the Israelites, enjoyed through 
conformity to the institutions under which they were placed, were 
consequent upon that state of mind and course of action which 

* James i. 25. 



176 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the antecedent favors demanded and occasioned. God never com- 
manded a being to do any tiling^ hut the ^ower and motive were de* 
rived from something God had done for him. 

In the Kingdom of Heaven the antecedent blessings are the 
constitution of grace, the King, and all that he did, suffered, and 
sustained for our redemption. These were finished before we 
came upon the stage of action. This is all favor, pure favor, sove- 
reign favor: for there can be no favor that is not free and sove- 
reign. But the remission of our sins, our adoption into the family 
of God, our being made heirs and inheritors of the kingdom of 
glory, are consequent upon faith and the obedience of faith. 

Organization and life of any sort are of necessity the gifts of 
God; but health and the continued enjoyment of life, and all its 
various and numerous blessings, are consequent upon the proper 
exercise of these. He that will not breathe, eat, drink, sleep, 
exercise, cannot enjoy animal life. God has bestowed animal 
organization and life antecedent to any action of the living crea- 
ture ; but the creature may throw away that life by refusing to 
sustain it by the means essential to its preservation and comfort. 

God made but one man out of the earth, and one e^LYihly natiire 
of every sort, by a positive, direct, and immediate agency of 
wisdom, power, and goodness. He gave these the power, accord- 
ing to his own constitution or system of nature, of reproducing 
and multiplying to an indefinite extent. But still this life is trans- 
mitted, diffused, and sustained by God operating through the sys- 
tem of nature. So Jesus in the new creation, by his Spirit sent 
down from heaven after his glorification, did, by a positive, direct, 
and immediate agency, create one congregation, one mystical or 
spiritual body ; and, according to the constitution or system of the 
Kingdom of Heaven, did give to that mystical body, created in 
Jerusalem out of the more ancient earthly Kingdom of God, the 
power of reproducing and multiplying to an indefinite extent. 
But still this new and spiritual life is transmitted, diffused, and 
sustained by the Spirit of God, operating through the constitution, 
or system of grace, ordained in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Hence, in setting up the Kingdom of Heaven, as in setting up 
the kingdom of nature, there was a display of divinity, compared 
with every thing subsequent, properly supernatural. Hence the 
array of apostles, prophets, extraordinary teachers, gifts, powers, 
miracles, &c. &c. But after this new mystical body of Christ 
w:is created and made, it had, and yet has, according to the system 
of grace under the present administration of the Kingdom of Hea* 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 177 

ven, the power of multiplying and replenishing the whole earth, 
and ivill do it; for as God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the 
spirit of life, after he had raided him out of the dust ; and as he 
bestowed on his beloved Son Jesus, after he rose out of the water, 
the Holy Spirit without measure ; so on the formation of the first- 
congregation, figuratively called the body of Christ, Jesus did 
breathe into it the Holy Spirit to inhabit and animate it till he 
come again. The only temple and habitation of God on earth, 
since Jesus pronounced desolation on that in Jerusalem, is the 
body of Christ. 

Now, this first congregation of Christ, thus filled with the Spirit 
of God, had the power of raising other congregations of Christ; 
or, what is the same thing, of causing the body of Christ to grow 
and increase. Thus we see that other congregations were soon 
raised up in Judea and Samaria by the members of the Jerusalem 
body. Many were begotten to God by the Spirit of God, through 
the members of the first congregation. And since the Spirit him- 
self ceased to operate in all those splendid displays of superna- 
tural grandeur, by still keeping the disciples of Christ always in 
remembrance of the things spoken by the holy Apostles, and by 
all the arguments derived from the antecedent blessings bestowed, 
working in them both to will and do according to the benevolence 
of God, he is still causing the body of Christ to grow and in- 
crease in stature, as well as in knowledge and favor of God. Thus 
the church of Christ, inspired with his Spirit, and having the 
oracles and ordinances of the Reign of Heaven, is fully adequate 
to the conversion of the Avhole world, if she prove not recreant 
to her Lord. 

In the work of conversion, her Evangelists, or those whom she 
sends beyond the precincts of her weekly meetings, have, under 
the influence of the Spirit of God, simply to propose the consti- 
tution, or the glad tidings of the Reign, to those without; and, by 
all the arguments which the oracles of God and the times and 
occasions suggest, to beseech and persuade men to be reconciled 
to God, to kiss the Son, to accept the constitution, to bow to him 
who is ordained a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance and 
remission of sins to all who submit to his government. Thus 
they and the congregation who sends them forth and sustains them 
in the work beget children to God hj the gospel, and enlarge the 
body of Christ. 

With all these documents before us, may we not say, that, as 
Eve was the mother of all living, so "Jerusalem is the mother of 



178 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

US air' ? And thus, to use the language of Paul, " Men are be- 
gotten to God by the gospeF' through the instrumentality of the 
congregations of Christ. 

Under the present administration of the Kingdom of Heaven, a 
great apostasy has occurred, as foretold by the Apostles. As the 
church, compared to a city, is called "Mount Zion,'' the apostate 
church is called "Babylon the Greaf Like Babylon the type, 
*' Mystery Babylon^' the antitype is to be destroyed by a Cyrus 
that knows not God. She is to fall by the sword of infidels, sup- 
ported by the fierce judgments of God. " The Holy City'' is still 
trodden under foot, and the sanctuary is filled with corruptions. 
It is, indeed, a den of thieves ; but strong is the Lord that judges 
the apostate city. Till that great and notable day of the Lord 
come, we cannot, from the prophetic word, anticipate a universal 
return to the original gospel, nor a general restoration of all the 
institutions of the Kingdom of Heaven in their primitive charac- 
ter ; and, consequently, we cannot promise to ourselves the uni- 
versal subjugation of the nations to the sceptre of Jesus. 

But were we to enter upon the consideration of the administra- 
tion of the afi'airs of the kingdom after the fall and overthrow of 
the apostate city and the conversion of the Jews, we should have 
to launch upon a wide and tempestuous ocean, for which our 
slender bark is not at this time sufficiently equipped. This may 
yet deserve the construction of a large vessel in a more propitious 
season. Meanwhile the original gospel is extensively proclaimed 
and many thousands are preparing for the day of the Lord ; and 
these are taught by the "Faithful and True Witness" that the 
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and that their 
happiness and safety alike consist in being prepared for his second 
advent. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 179 



REMISSION OF SINS. 

LfjTiiEft, said that the doctrine of justification, or forgiveness, 
vvas the test of a standing or falling church. If right in this, she 
could not be very far wrong in any thing else ; but if wrong here, 
it was not easy to suppose her right in any thing. I quote from 
memory, but this was the idea of that great reformer."^ We agree 
with him in this as well as in many other sentiments. Emerging 
from the smoke of the great city of mystical Babylon, he saw as 
clearly and as far into these matters as any person could in such 
a hazy atmosphere. Man}^ of his views only require to be carried 
out to their legitimate issue, and we should have the ancient 
gospel as the result. 

The doctrine of remission is the doctrine of salvation ; for to 
talk of salvation without the knoAvledge of the remission of sins 
is to talk without meaning. To give to the Jews '* a knowledge 
of salvation by the remission of their sins,^^ was the mission of 
John the Immerser, as said the Holy Spirit. In this Avay he pre- 
pared a people for the Lord. This doctrine of forgiveness was 
gradually opened to the people during the ministry of John and 
Jesus, but was not fully developed until Pentecost, when the se- 
crets of the Reign of Heaven were fully opened to men. 

From Abel to the resurrection of Jesus, transgressors obtained 
remission at the altar, through priests and sin-offerings; but it 
was an imperfect remission as respected the conscience. *' For the 
law,'' says Paul, (more perfect in this respect than the preceding 
economy,) "containing a shadow only of the good things to conit., 
and not even the very image of these things, never can, with the 
same sacrifices which they offer yearly forever, make those who 
come to them perfect. Since, being offered, would they not have 
ceased ? because the worshippers, being once purified, should have 
no longer conscience of sins.^' 

The good tilings to come were future during the reign of Moses 

* The reformer al.<50 said: "If the article of justification be '^nce lost, then is all 
true Christian doctrine lost."— Pretace to the Ep. Gal., Phil, ed., 1800. 



180 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

and his institution. They have come; and a clear, and full, and 
perfect remission of sins is the great result of the new economy 
in the consciences cf all the citizens of the kingdom of Jesus, 
The perfection of the conscience of the worshippers of God under 
Christ is the grand distinouishing peculiarity in them compared 
with those under Moses. They have not only clearer views of 
God, of his love, of his character, and of immortality ; but they 
have consciences which the Jewish and patriarchal ages could 
not produce. 

If faith only were the means of this superior perfection and 
enjoyment, and if striking symbols or types were all that were 
necessary to afford this assurance and experience of pardon, the 
Jewish people might have been as happy as the Christian people. 
They had as true lestimony, as strong faith, and as striking em- 
blems as we have. Many of them through faith obtained a high 
reputation, were approved by God, and admired by men for their 
wonderful achievements. 

The difference is in the constitution. They lived under a con- 
stitution of law — we under a constitution o^ favor. Before the 
law their privileges were still more circumscribed. Under the 
government of the Lord Jesus there is an institution for the for- 
giveness of sins, like which there was no institution since the 
world began. It was owing to this institution that Christians 
were so much distinguished ai-. first from the subjects of every 
former institution. 

Our political happiness in these United States is not owing to 
any other cause than to our political institutions. If we are po- 
litically the happiest people in the world, it is because we havo 
the happiest political institutions in the world. So it is in the 
Christian institution. If Christians were and may be the hap- 
piest people that ever lived, it is because they live under the most 
gracious institution ever bestowed on men. The meaning ol this 
institution has been buried under the rubbish of human traditions 
for hundreds of 3^ears. It was lost in the dark ages, and has 
never been, till recently, disinterred. Various efforts have been 
made, and considerable progress attended them ; but since the 
Grand Apostasy was completed, till the present generation, the 
gospel of Jesus Christ has not been laid open to mankind in its 
original plainness, simplicity, and majesty. A veil in reading 
the New Institution has been on the hearts of Christians, as Paul 
declares it was upon the hearts of the Jews in reading the Old 
Institution towards the close of that economy. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 181 

The object of this essay is to open to the consideration cf the 
reader the Christian institution for the remission of sins ; to show 
by what means a person may enjoy the assurance of a persona 
and plenary remission of all his sins. This we shall attempt to 
do by stating, illustrating, and proving the following twelve pre- 
positions : — 

Prop. I. — The Apostles taught their disciples ^ or converts, that their 
sins were forgiven, and uniformly addressed them as pardoned or 
justified persons, 

John testifies that the youngest disciples were pardoned. *' I 
write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you 
on account of his name.'^^ The young men strong in the Lord, 
and the old men steadfast in the Lord, he commends for their at- 
tainments: but the little children he addressed as possessing this 
blessing as one common to all disciples : — " Your sins are forgiven 
you, on account of his nameJ^ 

Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, asserts, that one of the pro- 
visions of the New Institution is the remission of the sins of all 
under it. ''Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.^^f 
From this he argues, as a first principle, in the Christian economy, 
•' Now where remission of these is, no more ofi'ering for sin is 
needed.^^J The reason assigned by the Apostles why Christians 
have no sin-offering is, because they have obtained remission of 
sins as a standing provision in the New Institution. 

The same Apostle testifies that the Ephesian disciples had 
obtained remission. *'Be to one another kind, tender-hearted, 
forgiving each other, even as God for Christ^s sake has forgiven 
you.^'W Here, also, in the enumeration of Christian privileges 
and immunities under Christ, he asserts forgiveness of sins as the 
common lot of all disciples. " In whom we have redemption 
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the 
riches of his favor.^^? In his letter to the Colossians, he uses the 
same words : — " By whom we have the forgiveness of sins,''^ 

Figurative expressions are used by the same Apostle, expres- 
sive of the same forgiveness common to all Christians. " And 
such (guilty characters) were some of you ; but you are washed " 
hut you are sanctified; but you are justified by the name of the 

* John ii. 13. ' f Hebrews viii. x. 17. J Hebrews x. 18. 

jj Eph iv. 32. g Eph. i. 17. % Colossians i 14 



182 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Lord Jesas, and by the Spirit of our God/'"^ Peter, also, is a 
witness here. " Seeing t/ou liave purified your souls by obeying 
the truth through the Spirit.^^f 

But there is no need of foreign, or remote, or figurative expres- 
sions, when so literally and repeatedly the Apostles asserted it as 
one of the adjuncts of being a disciple of Jesus. Had we.no 
other testimony than that found in a single letter to the Colos- 
sians, it would be sufficient to sustain this position. The command 
given in chapter iii. 13 assumes it as a principle, ^^As Christ 
forgave you, so also do you J' But in the second chapter he makes 
this an inseparable adjunct of being in Christ. "You are complete 
in him — circumcised — buried with him — raised w^ith him — made 
alive with him — having forgiven you all trespasses. ^^ 

These explicit testimonies from the most illustrious witnesses 
sustain my first proposition. On these evidences I rely, and I 
shall henceforth speak of it as a truth not to be questioned, viz.: 
that all the disciples of Christ converted in the apostolic age 
were taught by the Apostles to consider themselves as pardoned 
persons. 



Prop. TI. — Tlie apostolic converts were addressed hy their teachers 
as justified persons. 

We know that none but innocent persons can be legally justi- 
fied ; but it is not in the forensic sense this term is used by th» 
Apostles. Amongst the Jews it imported no more than pardoned : 
and when applied to Christians it denoted that they were ac- 
quitted from guilt, — discharged from condemnation, and accounted 
as righteous persons in the sight of God. 

Paul, in Antioch in Pisidia, assured the Jews, that in or by 
Jesus all that believed were justified from all things (certainly here 
it is equivalent to pardoned from all sins) from which they could 
not be justified by the law of Moses. The disciples are said to 
be justified by faith. J By favor or grace. || In or by the blood 
of Christ.? By the name of the Lord Jesus. T[ By works.** It 
is God who justifies. ft 

Christians are said to be justified by God, by Christ, by favor 
by faith, by the blood of Jesus, by the narne of the Lord Jesus, 
and by the Spirit of God — also by works. Pardon and acquittal 

* Cor. vi. 11. t 1 Peter i. 22. ± Rom. v. 1, || Rom. iii. 24. 

§ Rom. V. Q ^1 Cor. vi. 11 ** James ii. 24. ff Rom. viii. 33. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 133 

are the prominent ideas in every application of the term. God is 
the justifier. Jesus also, as his Messiah, justifies, and the Spirit 
declares it. As an act of favor it is done, by the blood of Jesus as 
the rightful and efficient cause — by the faith as the instrumental 
cause — by the name of Jesus the Lord as the immediate and con- 
necting cause — and by works, as the demonstrative and conclu- 
sive cause. Nothing is more plain from the above testimonies 
than that all Christians are declared to be justified under the Reign 
of Jesus Christ. 

Prop. III. — The ancient Christians were addressed by the Apostles 
as sanctified persons, 

Paul addressed all the disciples in Rome as saints or sanctified 
persons. In his first letter to the Corinthians he addresses them 
all as tJie sanctified under Christ Jesus. "To the congregation of 
God which is at Corinth, to the sanctified under Christ Jesus.'' 
Paul argues with the Hebrews that " by the will of God we are 
BaiwJtified by the ofiering of Jesus Christ once only.'' " For by this 
one off'ering he has {ox q^qv perfected (the conscience of ) the sanc- 
tified J' So usual was it for the Apostles to address their disciples 
as sanctified persons, that occasionally they are thus designated 
in the inscription upon their epistles. Thus, Jude, addressing 
indiscriminatel}^ the whole Christian community, inscribes his 
catholic epistle " To the sanctified by God our Father and to the 
preserved (or saved) by Jesus Christ; to the called." "The sanc- 
tifier and the sanctified are all of one family," says the Apostle 
to the Gentiles. And therefore the sanctifier addressed the sanc- 
tified as his brethren, and the brethren the disciples as sanctified. 
But once more we must hear Paul, and hear him connecting his 
sanctification with the name of the Lord Jesus. He says, " But 
now you are sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus and by the 
Spirit of our God."^ 

Prop. IV. — The ancient Christians, the apostolic converts, were 
addressed as ^^ reconciled to GodJ^ 

Paul repeatedly declares that the disciples were reconciled to 
God. "When enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death 
of his Son."t To the Corinthians he says, "God has reconciled 

* Cor. iv. 16. f Rom. v. 10. 



184 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

US to liimsalf by Jesus Christ ;'^^ and to the Colossians he as* 
sens, "It pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to him, 
having made peace by the blood of his cross ; I say whether they 
be things on the earth or things in the heavens. Even you [Gen- 
tiles] who were formerly alienated in mind, and enemies by worka 
which are wicked, he has now, indeed, reconciled in the body of his 
flesh through death/'f To the Ephesians he declares, that though 
**once they were without God and without hope in the world, far 
jff, they are now, through the blood of Christ, made nighJ^ He 
has made the believing Jews and Gentiles one, that he might, 
under Christ, reconcile hoili in one body to God, through the cross, 
having slain the enmity between both thereby. Indeed, he repre- 
sents God as in Christ reconciling a world to himself; and so all 
under Christ are frequently said to be reconciled to God through 
him; which was the point to be proved. 



I'rop. y. — The first disciples were considered and addressed by the 
Apostles as ^^ adopted into the family of GodJ^ 

This adoption is presented by the Apostle as the great reason 
which called forth the Son of God. "God,'' says he, "sent forth 
his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might 
buy off those under the law, that we might receive the adoption 
of sons.'' "And because you are sons, he has sent forth the spirit 
of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father."! "You are, 
therefore, now sons of God." 

Indeed, the same writer, in his letter to the Ephesians, goes 
still further, and represents this adoption of Jews and Gentiles 
into the rank and dignity of the sons and daughters of the Lord 
Almighty as the great object contemplated in God's predestina- 
tion. "Having," says he, "predestinated, or beforehand determi- 
nately pointed us out, for an adoption into the number of children 
by Jesus Christ, j^r himself, according to the good pleasure of his 
will." 11 Another testimony must suffice on this point. "Beloved," 
says the Apostle John, ^^now are we the sons of God; and what 
manner of love God has bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called sons of God! If sons, then we are heirs of God — joini 
heirs with Christ." 

* 2 Cor. V. 18. t Col. L 21. % Gal. iv. 6. I] Eph. i. 5 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 185 

Prop. YI. — My sixth proposition is, that the Jirsi Christians were 
taught hy the inspired teachers to consider tliemsclves as saved 
persons. 

Because of some ambiguity in the popular import of the term 
saved, when applied to the disciples of Christ, we shall define it 
as used in this proposition. I need not here descant upon the 
temporal saviours and temporal salvations Avhich are so conspicu- 
)us in sacred history. I need not state that Noah and his fiimily 
were saved from the judgment inflicted upon the Old World; the 
Israelites from the Egyptians, and from all their enemies ; that 
Paul's companions were saved from the deep, and God's people 
in all ages, in common with all mankind, from ten thousand 
perils to which their persons, their families, and their property 
have been exposed. It is not the present salvation of our bodies 
from the ills of this life; but it \^the salvation of the soul from the 
guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin. " Thou shalt call his name 
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'' It is the sal- 
vation of the soul in the present life of which we speak. And 
here it ought to be clearly and distinctly stated that there is a 
present and s^Juture salvation, of which all Christians are to be 
partakers. The former is properly the salvation of the soul, and 
the latter is the salvation of the body, at the resurrection of the 
just. There are few professing Christianity, perhaps none, who 
do not expect a future salvation — the glor}^ of salvation to be re- 
vealed in us at the last time. Peter, who uses this expression in 
the beginning of his first epistle, and who invites the saints to 
look forward to the salvation yet future, in the same connection 
reminds them that they have now received the salvation of the 
soul. Indeed, the salvation of the soul is but the frstfriiii of the 
Spirit, and but an earnest until the adoption, "the redemption of 
the body'' from the bondage of corruption. It was in this sense 
of the word that salvation was announced to all who submitted 
to the Lord Jesus, and hence it is in this connection equivalent to 
a deliverance of the soul from the guilt, pollution, and dominion 
of sin. Having thus defined the present salvation of the soul, I 
proceed to the proof of my sixth proposition, viz.: that the first 
Christians were taught by their inspired teachers to consider 
themselves as saved persons. 

Peter, on Pentecost, exhorted the Jews to save themselves from 
that untoward generation, by reforming and being ''immeised lor 
the remission of their sins, in the name of the Lord Jesus." Luke, 

16^^ 



186 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

in recording the success attendant on Peter^s labors, expresses 
himself thus: — ''And the Lord added, daily, the saved to the con- 
gregation/^^' Those who obeyed the gospel were recorded by 
Luke as ^^tlie saved.^^ The King's translators supplied out of 
their own system the words '^should heJ^ They are not in any 
copy of the Greek scriptures. Such is the first application of the 
words " the saved'' in the Christian scriptures. 

Paul uses the same words in the first letter to the Corinthians, 
and applies them to all the disciples of Jesus. "To the destroyed, 
tiie doctrine of the cross is foolishness; but to us, the saved, it is 
the power of God.'^f In the same letter, he says of the Gospel, 
**By Avhich you are saved, if you retain in your memory the ATord 
which I announce to you.^'J In his second letter he uses the same 
style, and distinguishes the disciples by the same designation: — 
**\\^e are through God a fragrant odor of Christ among the saved, 
and among the destroyed. ^^ The Ephesians, he declares, are 
saved through favor; and to Titus he says, "God has saved us, not 
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to 
his own mercy, ^' — by Avhat means we shall soon hear Paul affirm. 
Promises of salvation to the obedient are to be found in almost 
every public address pronounced by the Apostles and first preach- 
ers. For the Saviour commanded them to assure mankind that 
every one who believed the gospel, and was immersed, should be 
saved. And, connecting faith with immersion, Peter averred that 
immersion saved us, purifying the conscience through the resur- 
rection of Jesus. II 

While Christians are taught to expect and hope for a future 
salvation — a salvation from the power of death and the grave — a 
salvation to be revealed in the last time — they receive the first- 
fruit of the Spirit, the salvation of the soul from guilt, pollution, 
and the dominion of sin, and come under the dominion of right- 
eousness, peace, and joy. This is what Peter affirms of all the 
Christians in Pontus, Gaiatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bi- 
thynia, to whom he thus speaks: — "Jesus, having not seen, you 
love; on whom, not now looking, but believing, you rejoice with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the reward of your 
faith, the salvation of your souls J'l 

These six propositions being each and every one of them clearly 
sustained by the unequivocal testimony of God, now adduced, and, 
as is well known to the intelligent disciple, by many more passages, 

* Acts ii. 42. t 1 Cor. i. 18. % 1 Cor. xv. 2. 1| 1 Pet. iii. 21. § 1 Pet. i. 8. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 187 

equally plain and forcible, not adduced ; we shall now engross them 
into one leading proposition, which we shall in this essay consider 
as not to be questioned— as irrefragably proved. 

The converts made to Jesus Christ by the Apostles ivere taught 
to consider themselves pardoned^ justified^ sanctified, reconciled, 
adopted, and saved ; and were addressed as pardoned, justified, 
sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved persons, by all who first 
preached the Gospel of Christ, 

While this proposition is before us, it may be expedient to re- 
mark that all these terms are expressive not of any quantity of 
mind — not of any personal attribute of body, soul or spirit; but 
each of them represents, and all of them together represent, a state 
or condition. But, though these terms represent state and not 
character, there is a relation between state and character, or 
an influence which state has upon character, which makes the 
state of immense importance in a moral and religious point of 
view. 

Indeed, the strongest arguments which the Apostles use with 
the Christians to urge them forward in the cultivation and display 
of all the moral and religious excellencies of character are drawn 
from the meaning and value of the state in which they are placed. 
Because forgiven, they should forgive; because justified, they 
should live righteously ; because sanctified, they should live holy 
and unblamably ; because reconciled to God, they should culti- 
vate peace wath all men, and act benevolently towards all ; be- 
cause adopted, they should walk in the dignity and purity of 
sons of God ; because saved, they should abound in thanks- 
givings, praises, and rejoicings, living soberly, righteously, and 
godly, looking forward to the blessed hope. 

As this essay is designed for readers of the most common ca- 
pacity and most superficial education, I trust I may be permitted to 
speak still more plainly upon the difference between state and cha- 
racter Childhood is a state; so is manhood. Now, a person in 
the state of childhood may act sometimes like a person in the 
state of manhood, and those arrived at the state of manhood may 
in character or behavior resemble those in a state of childhood. 
A person in the state of a son may have the character of a ser- 
vant ; and a person in the state of a servant may have the cha- 
racter of a son. This is not generally to be expected, though it 
sometimes happens. Parents and children, masters and servants, 
husbands and wives, are terms denoting relations or states. To 
act in accordance with these states or relations is quite a different 



188 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

thing from being in any one of these states. Many persons entei 
into the state of matrimony, and yet act unworthily of it. This 
is true of many other states. Enough, we presume, is said tc 
contradistinguish state and character, relations and moral quali- 
ties. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark here, that as the disciples of 
Christ are declared to be in a pardoned, justified, sanctified, re- 
conciled, adopted, and saved state, they are the only persons in 
such a state ; and all others are in an unpardoned, unjustified, 
unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopted, and lost state. 

When, then, is a change of state effected, and by lohat means? — • 
This is the great question soon to be discussed. 

We are constrained to admit that a change in any one of these 
r-tates necessarily implies, because it involves, a change in all the 
others. Every one who is pardoned is justified, sanctified, re- 
conciled, adopted, and saved, and so every one that is saved is 
adopted, reconciled, sanctified, justified, and pardoned. 

To illustrate what has already been proved, let us turn to some 
of the changes which take place in society as at present consti- 
tuted. A female changes her state. She enters into the state of 
matrimony. So soon as she has surrendered herself to the afi*ec- 
tionate government and control of him who has become her hus- 
band, she has not only become a wife, but a daughter, a sister, an 
aunt, a niece, &c. ; and may stand in many other relations in 
which she before stood not. All these are connected Avith her be- 
coming the wife of a person who stands in many relations. So 
when a person becomes Christ^s, he is a son of Abraham, an heir, 
a brother, or is pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, 
and saved. 

To be in Christ, or under Christ, then, is to stand in these new 
relations to God, angels, and men ; and to be out of him, or not 
under his mediatorship or government, is to be in or under Adam 
only. It is to be in what is called "the state of nature,'^ unpar- 
doned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, and an alien from 
the family of God, lost in trespasses and sius. 

These things premised, the question presents itself. When are 
persons in Christ? I choose this phrase in accommodation to the 
familiar style of this day. No person is in a house, in a ship, in 
a state, in a kingdom, but he that has gone or is introduced into 
a state, into a kingdom ; so no person is in Christ but he who has 
been introduced into Christ. The scripture style is most reli- 
giously accurate. We have the words ''in Christ," and the words 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 189 

*'into Christ,^' often repeated in the Christian scriptures; bui 
in no one place can the one phrase be substituted for the other. 
Hence, in all places where any person is said to be in Christ, 
it refers not to his conversion, regeneration, or putting on Christ, 
but to a state of rest or privilege subsequent to conversion, re- 
generation, or putting on Christ. But the phrase into Christ is 
always connected with conversion, regeneration, immersion, or 
putting on Christ. Before we are justified in Christ, live in 
Christ, or fall asleep in Christ, we must come, be introduced, or 
immersed into Christ. Into belongs only to verbs implying mo- 
tion towards ; and in to verbs implying rest or motion in. He eats, 
sleeps, sits in the house. He walks into the field; he rides into 
the city. "Into Christ'^ is a phrase only applicable to conver- 
sion, immersion, or regeneration, or what is called putting on 
Christ, translation into his kingdom, or submission to his 
government.^ 

^ To prevent mistakes, I shall here transcribe a part of a note found in the Ap- 
pendix to the Second edition of the >iev) version of the Christian scriptures, p. 452: — 

"I am not desirous of dimiuishing the difference of meaninoj between immersing 
a person in the name of the Father, and into the name of the Father. They are 
quite different ideas. But it will be asked. Is this a correct translation ? To which 
I answer, most undoubtedly it is. For the preposition eis is that used in this place, 
and not ew. By v^h:it in ad verteri:y the king's translators gave it in instead of i?icO 
in this passage, and elsewhere gave it into when speaking of the same ordinance. I 
presume not to sa,y. But they have been followed by most modein translators, and 
with them they translate it i7ito in other places where it occurs, in relation to this 
institution. For example: — 1 Cor. xii. 13 : For by one spirit we are all immersed 
into one body. Rom. vi. 3: Don't you know that so many of you as were immersed 
i7ito Christ were immersed into his death? Gal, iii. 27: As many of you as have 
been immersed into Christ have T3ut on Christ. Now, for the same reason they 
ought to have rendered the following passages the same way : — Acts viii. 16 : Only 
they were immersed twi^o the name of the Lord Jesus, xix. 3: l7ito what name were 
you then immersed? When they heard this, they were immersed into the name of 
ithe Lord Jesus. ICor. i. 13: Were you immersed into the name of Paul? Lest 
any should say I had immersed into my own name. 1 Cor. x. 1 : Our fathers were 
all immersed into^loses in the cloud and in the sea. Now, in all these places it is 
m, and en is clearly marked in the last quotation. They were immersed into Moses 
— not i?ito the cloud and into the sea, but in the cloud and in the sea. To be 
immersed into Moses is one thing, and in the sea is another. To be immersed iMo 
the name of the Father, and in the name of the Father, are just as distinct. '-In the 
name'''' is equivalent to ''6?/ the authority of.'''' In the name of the king or common- 
wealth, is by the authority of the king or commonwealth. Now the question is, Did 
the Saviour mean that the disciples were to be immersed by the authority of the 
Father. Son, and Holy Spirit? If by the authority of the Father, for what purpose 
were they immersed? The authority by which any action is done is one thing, and 
the object for which it is done is another. Now, who that can discriminate can think 
that it is one and the Fame thing to be immersed in the name of the Lord, and to be 
immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus? The former denotes the authority by 
which the action is performed — the latter the object for which it is performed. Pei 
sons are saidt) cut ev into matrimony, to enter into an alliance, to get into debt, tc 
run inti danger. Now, to be immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus was a form 
of speech in ancient usage, as familiar and significant as any of the preceding. And 
when we analyze these expressions, we find thev all import that the persons arc 
either under the obligations or influence of those things into which they are said to 
enter, or into which they are introduced. Hence, those immersed into one body 
were under the influences and obligations of that body. Those immersed iutc 
Moses assumed Moses ?^s, their lawgiver, guide, and protector, and risked every 
thing upon his authority, wisdom, power, and goodness. Those who were im- 



190 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Presuming on the intelligence of our readers so far as to sup- 
pose them assured that this is no mere verbal criticism, but u 
discrimination that detects one of the pillars of an apostate church, 
I proceed to another preliminary proposition, which I choose to 
submit in the following words, to wit: — 



Prop. VII. — A change of views, tliougli it necessarily precedes, is 
in no case equivalent to, and never to he identified loith, a change 
of state. 

In all the relations of this life, in all states or conditions of 
men, we feel the truth of this ; and I would to Heaven that our 
readers could see as plainly what is of infinitely more importance 
to them, — that no change of heart is equivalent to or can be sub- 
stituted for a change of state ! A change of heart is the result 
of a change of views, and whatever can accomplish a change of 
views may accomplish a change of heart or feeling ; but a change 
of state always calls for something more.^ 

Lavinia was the servant of Palemon, and once thought him a 
hard master. She changed her views of him ; and her feelings 
were also changed towards him ; still, however, she continued in 

mersed into Christ put him on, and acknowledged his authority and laws, and were 
governed by his will; and those who were immersed into the name of the Father, 
Son. and Holv Spirit, regarded the Father as the fountain of all authority — the Son 
as the only Saviour — and the H0I3' Spirit as the only advocate of the truth, ani 
teacher of Christianity. Hence, such persons as were immersed into the name of 
the Father acknowledged him as the only living and true God — Jesus Christ as his 
only-begotten Son. the Saviour of the world — and the Holy Spirit as the only suc- 
cessful advocate of the truth of Christianity upon earth." 

* State here has respect to the whole person. It may he argued that state is as 
pertinently applied to the mind or heart as to the whole person; and that when the 
state of the mind is changed by a belief of God's testimony, the subject of that 
change is brought into as near a relation to God as he can be in this life; and, as the 
kingdom of Jesus is a spiritual kingdom, he is as fit for admission into it, and f^r 
the enjoyment of its blessings, whenever his heart is changed from enmity to love, 
as he ever can be: nay, in truth, is actually initiated into the kingdom of Jesus the 
moment his mind is changed — and that to insist upon any personal act as necessary 
to admission, because such acts are necessary to admission into all the social and 
political relations in society, is an overstraining the analogies between things 
earthly and things heavenly. Not one of our opponents, as far as we remember, has 
thus argued. We have sometimes thought that they might have thus argued with 
incomparably more speciosity than appears in any of their objections. 

But, without pausing to inquire whether the state of the heart can be perfectly 
changed from enmity to love, without an assurance of remission on some ground, 
or in consequence of some act of the mind prerequisite thereunto; — without being 
at pains to show that the truth of this proposition is not at all essential to our argu- 
ment, but only iVustrative of it ; we may say, that as Christ has redeemed the whole 
man, body, soul, and spirit, by his obedience even to death — so in coming into his 
kingdom on earth, and in order to ih.Qenjoymp.nt of all the present salvation, the state 
of the. whole, person muf>t be changed; and this is what we apprehend Jesus meant 
by his saying, "Unless a man is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the 
Kingdom of God," and what we mean in distinguishing a change of heart, or of 
views and feelings, from a change of state. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 191 

the state of a handmaid. Paleinon offered her first his heart, and 
then his hand, and she accepted them. He vowed and «he vowed 
before witnesses, and she became his wife. Then, and not till 
then, was her state changed. She is no longer a servant ; she is 
now a wife. A change of views and of feelings led to this change 
in state ; but let it be noted that this might not have issued in a 
change of state ; for Maria, who was another handmaid of Palo- 
mon, and changed her views of him and her feelings towards him 
as much — nay more than did Lavinia ; yet Maria lived and died 
the servant-maid of Palemon and Lavinia. 

William Agricola and his brother Thomas, both Canadians, 
were once much opposed to the constituted government of New 
England. They both* changed their views, and, as a matter of 
course, their feelings were changed. William became a citizen 
of Ehode Island ; but Thomas, notwithstanding his change of 
heart, lived and died a colonial subject of a British king. 

John and James Superbus became great enemies to each other. 
They continued irreconciled for many years. At length a change 
of views brought about a change of heart : but this change for 
more than a year was concealed in the heart, and by no overt act 
appeared. They were not reconciled until mutual concessions 
were made and pledges of a change of feeling were tendered and 
reciprocated. From enemies they became friends. 

A thousand analogies might be adduced, to show that though 
a change of state often — nay, generally — results from a change of 
feelings, and this from a change of views, yet a change of state 
does not generally follow, and is something quite different from, 
and cannot be identified with, a change of heart. So in religion, 
a man may change his views of Jesus, and his heart may also be 
changed towards him ; but, unless a change of state ensues, he is 
still unpardoned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopt- 
ed, and lost to all Christian life and enjoyment. For it has been 
proved that these terms represent states and not feelings, condi- 
tion and not character ; and that a change of views or of heart is 
not a change of state. To change a state is to pass into a new 
relation, and relation is not sentiment nor feeling. Some act, then, 
constitutional, by stipulation proposed, sensible and manifest, 
must be performed by one or both the parties before such a change 
can be accomplished. Hence, always, in ancient times, the pro- 
clamation of the gospel was accompanied by some instituted act 
proposed to those whose views were changed, by ^vhich their state 



192 THE CHRISTIAN SiTSTEM. 

was to be changed, and by which they were to stand in a new 
relation to Jesus Christ. 

This brings us to ^'the obedience of faith J ^ From the time the 
proclamation of God's philanthropy was first made, there was an 
act of obedience proposed in it by which the believers in the pro- 
clamation were put in actual possession of its blessings, aad by 
conformity to which act a change of state ensued. 

To perceive what this act of faith is, it must be remarked that 
where there is no command there can be no obedience. These aro 
correlate terms. A message or proclamation which has not a 
command in it cannot be obeyed. But t^e gospel can be obeyed 
Dr disobeyed, and therefore in it there is a command. Lest any 
person should hesitate in a matter of suck importance, we will 
prove — 

Prop. YIII. — The gospel has in it a command, and as such must 

he obeyed. 

And here I need only ask, TVho are they who shall be punished 
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord ? Paul 
replies, " They who know not God, and obey not the gospel of his 
Son.'''^ To " obey the gospel,'^ and to " become obedient to the 
faith,'' were common phrases in the apostolic discourses and 
writings. " By whom we have received apostleship, in order to 
the obedience of faith in all nations, on accouni of his riame.''f 
" By the commandment of the everlasting God, the gospel is made 
known to all nations for the obedience offaith.''% " A great com- 
pany of the priests became obedient to the faith. '^|| "But they 
have not all obeyed the gospel ;"| and " What shall be the end of 
them who obey not the gospel ?'^% From these sayings it is unques- 
tionably plain, that either the gospel itself, taken as a whole, is 
a command, or that in it there is a command through the obedience 
« f which salvation is enjoyed. 

The obedience of the gospel is called the obedience of faith, 
Lompared with the obedience of the law, — faith in God's promise 
through Jesus Christ being the principle from which obedience 
flows. To present the gospel in the form of a command is an act 
of favor, because it engages the will and affections of men, and 
puts it in their power to have an assurance of their salvation from 

* 1 Thess. i. 8. f Romans i. 5. + Romans xri. 26w 

II Acts vi. T. ^ Romans it. 8. f 1 Peter iv. 17 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 193 

which they would be necessarily excluded if no such act of obe- 
dience were enjoyed. 

Whatever the acfc of faith may be, it necessarily becomes the 
line of discrimination between the two states before described. On 
this side and on that mankind are in quite different states. On 
the one side they are pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, 
adopted, and saved : on the other, they are in a state of condem- 
nation. This act is sometimes called immersion, regeneration, 
conversion ; and, that this act may appear obvious to all, we shall 
be at some pains to confirm and illustrate it. 

That a relation or a state can be changed by an act, I need 
scarcely at this time attempt to prove ; especially to those who 
know that the act of marriage, of naturalization, adoption, and 
their being born, changes the state of the subject of such acts. 
But, rather than attempt to prove that a state is or may be changed 
by an act,»I should rather ask if any person has heard, knows, or 
can conceive, of a state being shanged without some act. This 
point, being conceded to us by all the rational, we presume not 
to prove. But a question may arise whether faith itself, or an act 
of obedience to some command or institution, is that act by which 
our state is changed. 



Prop. IX. — That it is not faiths hut an act resulting from faith, 
which changes our state, we shall now attempt to prove. 

No relation in wbich we stand to the material world — no poli- 
tical relation, or relation to society — can be changed by believing, 
apart from the acts to which that belief or faith induces us. Faith 
never made an American citizen, though it may have been the 
cause of many thousands migrating to this continent and ulti- 
mately becoming citizens of these United States. Faith never 
made a man a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a master, a 
c^rvant, though it may have been essentially necessary to all these 
relations, as a cause or principle preparatory or tending there 
unto. Thus, when in scripture men are said to be justified by 
faith, or to receive any blessing through faith, it is because faith 
is the principle of action, and, as such, the cause of those acts by 
which such blessings are enjoyed. But the principle without 
those acts is nothing ; and it is only by the acts which it induces 
to perform that it becomes the instrument of any blessings to 
man. 

17 



194 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Many blessings are metonymically ascribed to faith in the sacred 
writings. We are said to be justified, sanctified, and purified by 
faith — to walk by faith, and to live by faith, &c. &c. But these 
sayings, as qualified by the Apostles, mean no more than by be- 
lieving the truth of God we have access into all these blessings. 
So that, as Paul explains, " By faith we have access into the favor 
in which we stand.^' These words he uses on two occasions,* 
when speaking of the value of this principle, contrasted with the 
principle of law ; and in his letter to the Hebrews, when he brings 
up his cloud of witnesses to the excellency of this principle, he 
shows that by it the ancients obtained a high reputation, — that 
is, as he explains, by their acts of faith in obedience to God^s 
commands. 

That faith by itself neither justifies, sanctifies, nor purifies, is 
admitted by those who oppose immersion for the forgiveness of 
sins. They all include the idea of the blood of Christ, • And yet 
they seem not to perceive that, in objecting to immersion as ne- 
cessary to forgiveness in connection with faith, their own argu- 
ments preclude them from connecting the blood of Christ with 
faith. If they admit that faith, apart from the blood of Christ, 
cannot obtain pardon, they admit all that is necessary to prove 
them inconsistent with themselves in opposing immersion for the 
remission of sins ; or immersion as that act by which our state is 
changed. 

The Apostle Peter, when first publishing the gospel to the 
Jews, taught them that they were not forgiven their sins by faith ; 
but by an act of faith, by a believing immersion into the Lord 
Jesus. That this may appear evident to all, we shall examine 
his Pentecostian address, and his Pentecostian hearers. 

Peter — -now holding the keys of the kingdom of Jesus, and 
speaking under the commission for converting the world, and by 
the authority of the Lord Jesus ; guided, inspired, and accom- 
panied by the Spirit — may be expected to speak the truth, the 
whole truth, plainly and intelligibly, to his brethren the Jews. 
He had that day declared the gospel facts, and proved the resur- 
rection and ascension of Jesus to the conviction of thousands 
They believed and repented — believed that Jesus was the Mes- 
siah, had died as a sin-ofi'ering, was risen from the dead, an<f 
crowned Lord of all. Being full of this faith, they inquired of , 
Peter and the other Apostles what they ought to do to obtain re " 

♦ Romans v. 2. Ephesians iii. 12. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 195 

mission. They were informed that, though they now believed 
and repented, they were not pardoned, but must ^^ reform and he 
immersed for the remission of sinsJ^ Immersion for the forgive- 
ness of sins was the command addressed to these believers, to 
these penitents, in answer to the most earnest question ; and by 
one of the most sincere, candid, and honest speakers ever heard. 
This act of faith was presented as that act by which a change in 
their state could be effected ; or, in other words, by which alone 
they could be pardoned. They " who gladly received this word 
were that day immersed ;'' or, in other words, the same day were 
converted, or regenerated, or obeyed the gospel. These expres- 
sions, in the Apostle^s style, when applied to persons coming into 
the kingdom, denote the same act, as will be perceived from the 
various passages in the writings of Luke and Paul. This testi- 
mony, when the speaker, the occasion, and the congregations are 
all taken into view, is itself alone sufficient to establish the point 
in support of which we have adduced it. 

But the second discourse, recorded by Luke from the lips of 
the same Peter, pronounced in Solomon^s Portico, is equally 
pointed, clear, and full in support of this position. After he had 
explained the miracle which he had wrought in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and stated the same gospel facts, he proclaims the 
same command: — "Reform and be converted, that your sins may 
be blotted out;'' or, "Reform and turn to God, that so your sins 
may be blotted out; that seasons of refreshment from the presence 
of the Lord may come, and that he may send Jesus whom the 
heavens must receive till the accomplishment of all the things 
which God has foretold,'' &c. Peter, in substituting other terms 
in this proclamation for those used on Pentecost, does not preach 
a new gospel, but the same gospel in terms equally strong. He 
uses the same word, in the first part of the command, which he 
used on Pentecost. Instead of ''he immersed,^' he has here "6e 
converted,^' or " turn to God;^' instead of 'for the remission of your 
dnSy^ here it is, " that your sins may hehloUed out;^' and instead of 
^' you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit/^ here it is, "that sea- 
sons of refreshment f^om the presence of the Lord may come,^^"^ On 

* There is no propriety in the common version of this member of the sentence — 
vjJien, instead of that " seasons of refreshment." Some make modern revivals '•' sea- 
sons of refreshment," such as these here alluded t» Then jt would read — " That 
your sins may be blotted out in times of revivals'* — wnen revivals shall come I 
The term is qpos, which, in this construction, as various critics have contended, is 
equivalent to '- that" in our tongue. To promise a future remission is no part of the 
gospel, nor of the apostolic proclamation. All Christians experience seasons of re- 
freshment in cordially obeying the gospel. 



196 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Pentecost, it was— 1st, "Reform;^' 2d, "Be immersed;'' 3d, ^Tor 
the remission of sins;'' and 4th, *'You shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit." In Solomon's Portico, it was — 1st, "Reform;" 
2d, "Be converted;" 3d, "That your sins may be blotted 
out;" and 4th, "That seasons of refreshment from the presence 
of the Lord may come;" that " you may have righteousness, peace, 
and joy in a holy spirit." So read the different clauses in those 
two discourses to the Jews, expressive of the same acts. 

There is yet, in this discourse in the Portico, a very strong ex- 
pression, declarative of the same gracious connection between 
immersion and remission. It is the last period of his discourse. 
" Unto you first, brethren of the Jews, God, having raised up his 
Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, every one of you, in the act of 
turning from your iniquities ;" or, as we would say, in the act of 
conversion. Why the Apostle Peter should have used " convert- 
ed," or " turning to God," instead of " be immersed," is, to the 
candid and unprejudiced reader of this narrative, very plain. 
After Pentecost, the disciples immersed on that day, having turned 
to God through Jesus, were spoken of by their brethren as dis^ 
cipled or converted to Jesus. The unbelieving Jews, soon after 
Pentecost, knew the disciples called the immersed ^^ converted ;^' 
and, immersion being the act of faith which drew the line of demar- 
cation between Christians and Jews, nothing could be more 
natural than to call the act of immersion the converting of a Jew. 
The time intervening between these discourses was long enough 
to introduce and familiarize this style in the metropolis ; so that 
when a Christian said, "5e converted/' or " Tinm to God/' every 
Jew knew the act of putting on the Messiah to be that intended. 
After the immersion of some Gentiles into the faith, in the house 
and neighborhood of Cornelias, it was reported that the Gentiles 
were converted to God. Thus, the Apostles, in passing through 
the country, gave great joy to the disciples from among the Jews, 
" telling them of the conversion" or immersion of the Gentiles.^ 
Indeed, in a short time it was a summary way of representing the 
faith, reformation, and immersion of disciples, by using one word 
for all. Thus, "All the inhabitants of Sharon and Lydda turned,'^ 
or " were converted, to the Lord."t 

While on the subject of conversion, we shall adduce, as a fourth 
testimony, the words of the Lord Jesus to Paul, when he called 
him Paul is introduced by Luke in the Acts, telling what the 

* Acts -iv S f Acts ix. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 197 

Lord said to him when he received his apostleship. " I send you 
Paul, by the faith that respects me, to open their eyes ; to turn or 
convert them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
to God ; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an in- 
heritance among the saved/'^ Every thing to be accomplished 
among the Gentiles was to be effected by the faith or truth in 
Christ. The Saviour connected that with opening their eyes: 
their conversion from the ignorance and tyranny of sin and Satan ; 
their forgiveness of sins ; and, finally, an inheritance among the 
saved or sanctified. First, faith or illumination ; then, conver- 
sion ; then, remission of sins ; then, the inheritance. All these 
testimonies concur with each other in presenting the act of faith — 
Christian immersion, frequently called conversion — as that act, 
inseparably connected with the remission of sins ; or that change 
of state of which we have already spoken. 

One reason why we would arrest the attention of the reader to 
the substitution of the terms convert and conversion, for immerse 
and immersion, in the apostolic discourses and in the sacred writ- 
ings, is not so much for the purpose of proving that the forgive- 
ness of sins, or a change of state, is necessarily connected with 
the act of faith called " Christian immersion,^' as it is to fix the 
minds of the biblical students upon a very important fact, viz. : 
that no person is altogether discipled to Christ until he is im- 
mersed. It is true that this view of the matter bears strongly 
upon the question ; but it bears upon other great matters per- 
taining to the present and ancient order of things. 

Discovering that much depends upon having correct views on 
this point, we have carefully examined all those passages where 
" conversion,^' either in the common version^ or in the new ver- 
sion, or in the original, occurs ; and have found a uniformity in 
the use of this term, and its compounds and derivatives, which 
warrants the conclusion that no person was said to be converted 
until he was immersed ; and that all persons who were immersed 
were said to be converted. If any apostatized, they were again 
converted : it was in that sense in which our Lord applied the 
word to Peter, " When you are converted, strengthen your breth- 
ren,'' or as James used it in his letter when he said, " If any 
of you err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that 
he who converts a transgressor from the error of his way shall 
save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins." 

* Acts xxiv. 17, 18. 



198 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The commission for convertin^>' the world teaches that immer« 
sion was necessary to discipleship ; for Jesus said, "Convert the 
nations, immersing them into the name,^^ &c. and '* teaching them 
to observe,'^ &c. The construction of ihe sentence fairly indi- 
cates that no person can be a disciple, according to the commis- 
sion, who has not been immersed: for the active participle in con- 
nection with an imperative either declares the manner in which the 
imperative shall he obeyed, or explains the meaning of the commands 

To this I have not found an exception. For example: — 
" Cleanse the house, sweeping it ;^^ " Cleanse the garment, wash- 
ing it,'^ shows the manner in which the command is to be obeyed, 
or explains the meaning of it. Thus, "Convert (or disciple) the 
nations, immersing them, and teaching them to observe,'^ &c. ex- 
presses the manner in which the command is to be obeyed. 

If the Apostles had only preached and not immersed, they 
would not have converted the hearers according to the commis- 
sion : and if they had immersed, and not taught them to observe 
the commands of the Saviour, they would have been transgres- 
sors. A disciple, then, according to the commission, is one 
that has heard the gospel, believed it, and been immersed. A 
disciple, indeed, is one that continues in keeping the command- 
ments of Jesus."^ 

* The following examples of the above general rule illustrate its value and cer- 
tainty : — '•'• Let us offer up the sacrifice of praise to God, confessing to his name." 
Heb. xiii. 10. '• Let us go forth to him out of the camp, hearing his reproach." Heb. 
xiii. 13. " Be an approved workman, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Tim, 
ii. 15. "Guard the precious deposite, avoiding proftme babblings." 1 Tim. vi. 20. 
"Observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality." 1 Tim. v. 21. 
" Pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands." 1 Tim. ii. 8. " Walk in wisdom to them 
that are without, gaining time." Col. iv. 5. " Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
giving thanks to God." Col. iii. 17. " Speak the truth, putti7ig away lying." Eph. 
iv. 25. "Be not vainglorious, provolHng one another." Gal. v. 26. "Convert the 
nations, baptizing them," &c. &c. Now, do not all these participles define their re- 
spective imperatives, or show the way and manner in which this command should 
be obeyed ? Many similar examples may be found in all the sacred writings. 

This rule has passed through a fiery trial. I have only been more fully convinced 
of its generality and value. There is no rule in the English syntax more general in 
its application. I would only add, that the participle does not always express every 
thing in the command: but it always points out something emphatically in the in- 
tention of the imperative, and without which the injunction cannot be suitably and 
fully performed. 

We have, however, no need of this rule, nor of any thing not generally conceded, 
to establish the point before us ; for the New Testament and all antiquity teach that, 
so long as the Apostles lived, no one was regarded is a disciple of Christ who had not 
confessed his faith and was immersed. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 199 



Prop. X. — / now proceed to show that immersion and washing of 
regeneration are two Bible names for the same act contemplated 
in two different points of view. 

The term 7'egeneration occurs but twice in the common version 
of the New Testament, and not once in the Old Testament. The 
first is Matt. xix. 28 : " You that have followed me in the rege- 
neration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory 
you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes 
of Israel.^' Dr. George Campbell, following the punctuation 
adopted by Griesbach, and substituting the word renovation instead 
of regeneration, renders it, " That, at the renovation, when the Son 
of Man shall be seated on his glorious throne, you, my followers, 
sitting also upon twelve thrones,'^ &c. Genesis, being the term 
used for creation, palingenesia, denotes the new creation — either 
literally at the resurrection of the dead, or figuratively at the 
commencement of the Christian era, or at the commencement of 
the Millennium. Josephus, the Jew, called the return of Israel 
to their own land and institution the " Eegeneration'^ or " Palin- 
genesia.^' 

No writer of any note, critic or expositor, supposes that regC' 
neration in Matt. xix. applies to what is, in theology, called the 
new birth, or regeneration of the soul, — not even the Presbyterian 
Matthew Henry, nor Dr. Whitby, Campbell, Macknight, Thomp- 
son ; nor, indeed, any writer we recollect ever to have read. Ee- 
generation in this passage denotes a state, a new state of things. 
In the same sense we often use the term. The American Revo- 
lution was the regeneration of the country or the government. 
The commencement of the Christian era was a regeneration ; so 
will be the creation of the new Heavens and new Earth. As this 
is so plain a matter, and so generally admitted, we proceed to the 
second occurrence of this term. 

" God has saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renew- 
ing of the Holy Spirit.'^* God has saved us through the bath of 
regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This is the 
second time the word regeneration is found in the New Testament ; 
and here it is conceded, by the most learned Pedobaptists and 
Baptists, that it refers to immersion. Though I have been led to 
this conclusion from my views of the Christian religion, yet I 

* Titus iii. 5. 



200 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

neither hold it myself, nor justify it to others on this account. 1 
choose rather to establish it by other testimonies than by those 
who agree with me in the import of this institution. Among 
these I shall place Dr. James Macknight, formerly prolocutor oi 
moderator of the Presbyterian church of Scotland, and translator 
of the Apostolic Epistles. One of his notes upon Titus iii. 5 is in 
ihe following words : — " Through the bath of regeneration,^' 
*' Through baptism, called the bath of regeneration, not because 
any change in the nature^' (but I would not say in the state) *' of 
the baptized person is produced by baptism ; but because it is an 
emblem of the purification of his soul from sin.^' He then quotes 
in proof, (Acts xxii. 16,) "Arise, and be immersed, and wash thee 
from thy sins.'' — Paul. He supports this yiew also from Eph. v. 
26, and John iii. 5. "The bath of regeneration'^ is, then, accord- 
ing to this learned Pedobaptist, Christian immersion. 

Parkhurst, in his Lexicon, upon the word loutron, connects the 
sdLme phrase, the washing or bath of regeneration, with Ephesians 
V. 26, and John- iii. 5, as alluding to immersion. So say all the 
critics, one by one, as far as I knew. Even Matthew Henry, thQ 
good and venerable Presbyterian commentator, concedes this 
point also, and quotes Ephesians v. 26, Acts xxii. 16, and Matt, 
xxviii. 19, 20, in support of the conclusion that the washing of 
regeneration refers to baptism. 

Our opponents themselves being judges, we have gained this 
point, viz. : that the only time that the phrase washing of regene- 
ration occurs in the New Testament, with reference to a personal 
change, it means, or is equivalent to, immersion. Washing of 
regeneration and immersion are therefore only two names far the 
same thing. Although I might be justified in proceeding to an- 
other topic and supposing this point to be fully established, I 
choose rather, for the sake of the slow to apprehend, to fortify this 
CDnclusion by some other testimonies and arguments. 

As regeneration is taught to be equivalent to " being born again.J^ 
and understood to be of the same import with a new birth, we 
ehall examine it under this metaphor. For if immersion be equi- 
valent to regeneration, and regeneration be of the same import 
with being born again, then being born again and being immersed 
are the same thing ; for this plain reason, that things which are 
equal to the same thing are equal to one another. All must admit 
that no person can be born again of thai which he receives. For as 
no person is born naturally, so no person can be born again — or 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 201 

born metaphorically — of that which he receives. It destroys the 
idea, the figure, the allusion, and every thing else which author- 
izes the application of these words to any change which takes 
place in man, to suppose that the subject of the new birth, or 
regeneration, is born again of something which he has received. 
This single remark shows the impropriety and inaccuracy of 
thought ; or, perhaps, the popular notions of regeneration sanc- 
tion and sanctify. 

In being born naturally there is the begetter, and that which ia 
begotten. These are not the same. The act of being born is dif- 
ferent from that which is born. Now, the scriptures carry this 
figure through every prominent point of coincidence. There is 
the begetter. "Of his own will he hath begotten or impregnated 
us,^' says James the Apostle. ^^By the word of triitli/' as the in- 
corruptible seed; or, as Peter says, '*We are born again, not from 
corruptible, but from incorruptible seed, the word of God which 
endureth forever.-'^ But when the act of being born is spoken 
of, then the water is introduced. Hence, before we come into the 
kingdom we are born of water. 

The Spirit of God is the begetter, the gospel is the seed ; and, 
being thus begotten and quickened, we are born of the water. A 
child is alive before it is born, and the act of being born only 
changes its state, not its life. Just so in the metaphorical birth. 
Persons are begotten by the Spirit of God, impregnated by the 
Word, and born of the water. 

In one sense a person is born of his father ; but not until he is 
first born of his mother. So in every place where water and the 
Spirit, or water and the Word, are spoken of, the water stands first. 
Every child is born of its father when it is born of its mother. 
Hence, the Saviour put the mother first, and the Apostles follow 
him. No other reason can be assigned for placing the water first. 
How uniform this style! Jesus says to Nicodemus, *'You must 
be born again, or you cannot discern the reign of God.^^ Born 
again! What means this? "Nicodemus, unless you are born of 
water and the Spirit you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.^^ 
So Paul speaks to the Ephesians, (v. 26:) "He cleansed the church 
[or the disciples] by a hath of water, and the icordJ' And to 
Titus he says, " He saved the disciples by the hath of regenera- 
tion, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.^^ Now, as soon as, and 
not before, a disciple, who has been begotten of God, is born of 
water, he is born of God, or of the Spirit. Regeneration is, there- 



ZOl^ THE CnRTSTIAN SYSTEM. 

fore, ilie act of being borii.^ Hence its connection always witn 
water. Reader, reflect — what a jargon, what a confusion, have 
the mystic doctors made of this metaphorical expression, and of 
this topic of regeneration. To call the receiving of any spirit or 
any influence, or energy, or any operation upon the heart of man, 
regeneration, is an abuse of all speech, as well as a departure 
from the diction of the Holy Spirit, who calls nothing personal 
regeneration except the act of immersion.^ 

Some curious criticisms have been offered, to escape the force 
of the plain declaration of Jesus and his Apostles upon this sub- 
ject. Some say that the words, " Except a man be born of water 
and Spirit, ^^ are not to be understood literally. Surely, then, if 
to be born of water does not mean to be born of water, to be born 
of the Spirit must mean something else than to be born of the 
Spirit. This is so fanatical and extravagant as to need no other 
exposure. He who cannot see the propriety of calling immersion 
a being born again can see no propriety in any metaphor in com- 

* See the following essay on Regeneration. 

f That John iii. 5 and Titus iii. 5 refer to immersion is the judgment of all the 
learned Catholics and Protestants of every name under heaven. 

The authors and finishers of the Westminster creed, — one hundred and twenty- 
one Divines, ten Lords, and twenty Commissioners of the Parliament of England, — 
under the question 165, ^'-What is hcptUmP quote John iii. 5, Titus iii. 5, to prove 
that baptism is a washing with water and a " sign of remission of sins." 

Michaelis, Home, Lightfoot, Eeverid^e, Taylor, Jones of Nayland, Bp. Mant, 
Whitby, Burkit, Bp. Hall, Dr. Vrolls, Hooker, Dr. G. Ridely, Bp. Ryder— but why 
attempt a list of great names ? There are a thousand more who assert it. 

Bp. White says, that '• regeneration, as detached from baptism, never entered into 
any creed before the seventeenth century." 

Whitby, on John iii. 5, says, -'Thrnt our Lord here speaks of baptismal regeneration, 
the whole Christian church from its earliest times has invariably taught. 

Our modern "great divines," even in America, have taught the same. Timothy 
Dwight, the greatest Pabbi of Presbyterians the New World has produced, says, vol. 
iv. pp. 300, 301, " to he horn again is precisely the same thing as to be born of water 
and the Spirit." — "To be bora of water is to be baptized." And how uncharitable! — 
He adds, " He who, understanding the nature and authority of this institution, re- 
fuses to be baptized, will never enter into the visible nor invisible kingdom of 
God." Vol. iv. p. 302. So preached the President of Yale. 

George Whitetield, writing on John iii. 5, says, "Does not this verse urge the ab- 
solute necessity of water-baptism^ Yes, when it may be had. But how God will 
deal with persons unbaptized, we cannot tell.'' Vol. iv. p. 355. I say with him, W4 
cannot tell with certainty. But I am of opinion, that when a neglect proceeds from 
a simple mistake or sheer ignorance, and when there is no aversion, but a will to 
do every thing the Lord commands, the Lord will admit into the everlasting king- 
dom those who by reason of this mistake never had the testimony of God assuring 
them of pardon or justification here, and consequently never did fully enjoy the 
salvation of God on earth. But I will say with the renowned President of Yale, that 
*'he who, understanding the nature and authority of this institution, refuses to be 
baptized, will never enter the visible nor invisible Kingdom of God." By the " visible 
and invisible kingdom" he means the kingdom of gra6e and glory. He adds on the 
same page, " He who persists in this act of rebellion against the authority of Christ 
will never belong to his kingdom." Vol. iv. p. 302. 

John Wesley asserts, that " by baptism we enter into covenant with God, ftn evei*- 
lasting covenant, are admitted into the church, made memb«rs of Christ, made the 
children of God. By water as the means, the water of baptism, we are regenerated or 
born again." [Preservative, pp. 146, 150.] 



THE CPJRTSTTAN SYSTEM. 203 

mon use. A resurrection is a new birth. Jesus is said to be the 
first-horn from the dead, because the first who rose from the dead 
to die no more. And, surely, there is no abuse of speech, but the 
greatest propriety, in saying that he who has died to sin, and been 
buried in water, when raised up again out of that element, is born 
again or regenerated. If Jesus was born again when he came out 
of a sepulchre, surely he is born again who is raised up out of the 
gra^e of waters. 

Those who are thus begotten and born of God are children of 
God. It would be a monstrous supposition that such persons 
are not freed from their sins. To he horn of God and horn in sin 
is inconceivahle. Remission of sins is as certainly granted to '' the 
horn of God^^^ as life eternal and deliverance from corruption will 
be granted to the children of the resurrection when born from the 
grave. 

To illustrate what has (we presume to say) been now proved, 
we shall consider ^joZi^icaZ regeneration. Though the term regene- 
ration is laxly employed in this association, yet by such a license 
of speech we may illustrate this subject to the apprehension of all. 
Yes, the whole subject of faith, change of heart, regeneration, and 
character. 

Ail the civilized nations and kingdoms have constitutions, and 
in their constitutions they have declared who are members of the 
social compact. Besides those who compose the community at 
the time a constitution is adopted, they say who shall participate 
its blessings in all time coming ; that is, who shall be admitted 
into it, and by what means they shall become members of it. — 
They have always decreed that their own posterity shall inherit 
their political rights and immunities; but they have also ordained 
that foreigners — that is, members of other communities — may be- 
come, by adoption or naturalization, citizens or fellow-members 
of the same community. But they have, in their wisdom and be- 
nevolence, instituted a rite or form of adoption, which form has 
much meaning; and which, when submitted to, changes the state 
of the subject of it. Now, as the Saviour consented to be called 
a King, and to call the community over which he presides a 
Kingdom, it was because of the analogy between these human 
institutions and his .institution ; and for the purpose not of con- 
founding but of aiding the human mind in apprehending and 
comprehending the great object of his mission to the world. And 
it is worthy of the most emphatic attention that it was when 



204 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

SPEAKING OF A KINGDOM HE SPOKE OF BEING BORN AGAIN. YeS ; On 

that occasion, and on that occasion only, when he spoke of enter- 
ing into Ms 'kingdom^ did he speak of the necessity of being born 
AGAIN. And had he not chosen that figure he would net have 
chosen the figure of a new hirtJi. With these facts and circum- 
stances before us, let us examine political regeneration as the 
best conceivable illustration of religious regeneration. 

A B was born on the island of Great Britain, a native subject 
of George III., King of Great Britain. He was much attached to 
his native island, to the people, the manners and customs of his 
ancestors and kinsmen. "With all these attachments still increas- 
ing, he grew up to manhood. Then he heard the report of this 
good land — of this large, fertile, and most desirable country. The 
country, the people, and the government were represented to him 
in the most favorable light. Sometimes these representations 
were exaggerated ; but still he could separate the truth from the 
fable, and was fully persuaded not only of the existence of these 
United States, but also of the eligibility of being a citizen thereof. 
He believed the testimony which he heard, resolved to expatriate 
himself from the land of his nativity, to imperil life and property, 
putting himself aboard of a ship, and bidding adieu to all the 
companions of his youth, his kinsmen, and dear friends. So full 
was his conviction, and so strong his faith, that old Neptune and 
King Eolus, with all their terrors, could not appall him. He 
sailed from his native shores, and landed on this continent. He 
was, however, ignorant of many things pertaining to this new 
country and government ; and on his arrival asked for the rights 
and immunities of a citizen. He was told that the civil rights of 
hospitality to a stranger could be extended to him as 2i friendly 
alien ; but not one of the rights or immunities of a citizen could 
be his, unless he were born again. ^^Born again P^ said he, in a 
disappointed tone, to Columbus, with whom he had his first con- 
versation on the subject. "What do you mean by being born 
again V 

Columbus, You must be naturalized, or adopted as a citizen • 
or, what we call born again. 

AB. I do not understand you. How can a man be born when 
he is grown ? 

Col, That which is born of Great Britain is British, and that 
which is born of America is American. If, then, you would be 
an American citizen, you must be born of America. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 205 

A B, Born of America ! You astonish me. I have come to 
America, well disposed towards the people and the country. I 
was once attached to England, but I became attached to the 
United States ; and because of my faith and attachments I have 
come here : and will you not receive me into your kingdom be- 
cause I could not help being born in England ? 

Col. Well-disposed as I am, and we are, to receive you, most 
assuredly I say to you, unless you are regenerated in a court- 
house, and be enfranchised by and before the judges, you can 
never become a citizen of these United States. 

A B, Yours is an arbitrary and despotic government. What 
airs of sovereignty you have assumed ! 

Col. By no means. Right, reason, wisdom, policy, and bene- 
volence for you, as well as the safety, dignity, and happiness of 
the whole community, require that every alien shall be natural- 
ized, or made a citizen, before he exercise or enjoy the rights of 
a citizen. 

A B. You are certainly arbitrary — if not in the thing itself, of 
regeneration — in the place and manner in which it shall be done. 
Why, for instance, say that it must be done in a court-liouse ? 

Col. I will tell you: because there are the judgesy the records, 
and the seal of the government. 

A B. 1 understand you. Well, tell me, how is a man born 
again. Tell me plainly and without a figure. 

Col. With pleasure. You were born of your mother and of 
your father when you were born in England ; and you were born 
legitimately/, according to the institutions of England. Well, then, 
you were born 0/ England, as well as born m it; and were, there- 
fore, wholly English. This was your first birth. But you have 
expatriated yourself, as your application here proves — I say sen- 
tirnentally you have expatriated yourself; but we must have a 
formal solemn pledge of your renunciation ; and we will give you 
a formal solemn pledge of your adoption. You must, ex animOj 
in the presence of the judges and the recorders, renounce all 
allegiance to every foreign prince and potentate, and especially to 
his majesty the King of Great Britain. 

A B. Is that the thing? I can, with all my heart, renounce all 
political allegiance to every foreign prince and government. Is 
that all? I have, then, no objection to that. 

Col. There is this also: — 'You are not only to renounce all poli- 
tical allegiance, but you must also, from the soul, solemnly vow^ 



206 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

in the presence of the same judges and recorders, that you will 
adopt and submit to the constitution and government of these 
United States. 

A B. I can do that also. I can renounce, and I can adr^pt; nor 
do I object to the place where it shall be done. But, pray, what 
solemn pledge will you give me f 

Col. So soon as you have vowed renunciation, and adopted, in 
the presence of the judges and recorders, we will give you a 
certificate, with a red seal, the seal of state^ attached to it; stating 
that you, having now been naturalized, or born according to our 
institutions, are born of America; and are now a son, an adopted 
son, of America. And that red seal indicates that the blood, the 
best blood, of this government, will be shed for you, to protect 
you and defend you ; and that your life will, when called for, be 
cheerfully given up for your mother, of whom you have been po- 
litically born ; as it would have been for your own natural politi- 
cal mother, of whom you were first born. 

A B, To this I must subscribe. In my mother-tongue, it all 
means that I give myself up politically to this government, and 
it gives itself up to me, before witnesses too. How soon, pray, 
after this new birth may I exercise and enjoy all the rights of a 
citizen ? 

Col. They are yours the first breath you breathe under your 
new mother. It is true, we have not, in these United States, any 
symbol through which a person is politically regenerated. "We 
only ask a solemn pledge, and give one. Some nations have 
symbols. But we understand that, the moment the vow is taken, 
the person is politically born again. And, as every other child 
has all the rights of a child which it can exercise so soon as it 
inhales the air, so have all our political children all political 
rights, so soon as the form of naturalization is consummated. 
But, remember, not till then. 

A B. You say some nations had their symbols. "What do you 
mean by these ? 

Col. I mean that the naturalized had to submit to some emblem- 
atic rite, by which they were symbolically detached from every 
other people and introduced among those who adopted them and 
whom they adopted. The Indian nations wash all whom they 
adopt in a running stream, and impose this task upon their fe- 
males. The Jews circumcised and washed all whom they ad- 
mitted to the rights of their institutions. Other customs and forms 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 207 

have obtained in other nations ; but we regard simply the meaning 
of the thing, and have no symbol. 

A B. In this I feel but little interested. I wish to become a 
citizen of these United States ; especially as I am informed I can 
have no inheritance among you, nor a. voice in the nation, nor any 
immunity, unless I am born again. 

Col. You must, then, submit to the institution ; and I know that 
so soon as you are politically born again, you will feel more of 
the importance and utility of this institution than you now can ; 
and will be just as anxious as I am to see others submit to this 
wise, wholesome, and benevolent institution. 

A B. As my faith brought me to your shores, and as I approve 
your constitution and government, I will not (now that I under- 
stand your institutions) suffer an opportunity to pass. I will 
direct my course to the place where I can be born again. 

I ought here to offer an apology for a phrase occurring fre- 
quently in this essay and in this dialogue. When we represent the 
subject of immersion as active, either in so many words or im- 
pliedly, we so far depart from that style which comports with the 
figure of '^ being born/' For all persons are passive in being born. 
So, in immersion, the subject buries not himself, raises not him- 
self; but is buried and raised by another. So that in the act the 
subject is always passive. And it is of that act alone of which 
we thus speak. 

From all that has been said on regeneration, and from the illus- 
tration just now adduced, the following conclusions must, we 
think, be apparent to all : — 

First. Begetting and quickening necessarily precede being born. 

Second. Being born imparts no new life ; but is simply a change 
of state, and introduces into a new mode of living. 

Third. Regeneration or immersion — the former referring to the 
import of the act, and the latter term to the act itself — denote 
only the act of being born. 

Fourth. God, or the Spirit of God, being the author of the whole 
institution, imparting to it its life and efficiency, is the begetter, 
in the fullest sense of that term. Yet, in a subordinate sense, 
every one skilful in the word of God, who converts another, may 
be said to have begotten him whom he enlightens. So Paul says, 
"I have begotten Onesimus in my bonds ;^^ and "I have begotten 
you, Corinthians, through the gospel.^' 

Fifth. The gospel is declared to be the seedy — the power and 
strength of the Holy Spirit to impart life. 



208 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Sixth. And the great argument, pertinent to cur object, in tints 
long examination of conversion and regeneration, is that which 
we conceive to be the most apparent of all other conclusions, vii:.: 
that remission of sins, or coming into a state of acceptance, being 
one of the present immunities of the Kingdom of Heaven, can- 
not be scripturally enjoyed by any person before immersion. As 
soon can a person be a citizen before he is born, or have the im- 
munities of an American citizen while an alien, as one enjoy the 
privileges of a son of God before he is born again. For Jesus 
expressly declares, that he has not given the privilege of sons to 
any but those born of God."^ If, then, the present forgiveness of 
sins be a privilege, and a right of those under the new constitu- 
tion, in the kingdom^of Jesus ; and if being born again, or being 
born of water and of the Spirit, is necessary to admission , and 
if being born of water means immersion^ as clearly proved by all 
witnesses ; then, remission of sins cannot, in this life, be consti- 
tutionally enjoyed previous to immersion. If there be any pro- 
position regarding any item of the Christian institution, which 
admits of clearer proof or fuller illustration than this one, I have 
yet to learn where it may be found. 

But, before we dismiss the sixth evidence, which embraces so 
many items, I beg leave to make a remark or two on the propriety 
of considering the term '^immersion'' as equivalent to the term 
" conversion.'^ 
/ Conversion is, on all sides, understood to be a turning to God. 
Not a thinking favorably of God, nor a repenting for former mis- 
deeds ; but an actual turning to God, in word and in deed. It is 
true, that no person can be said to turn to God, whose mind is not 
enlightened, and whose heart is not well disposed towards God. 
All human actions, not resulting from previous thought or deter- 
mination, are rather the actions of a machine, than the actions of 
a rational being. "He that comes to God,'' or turns to him, " must 
believe that God exists, and that he is a rewarder of every one 
who diligently seeks him." Then he will seek and find the Lord. 
An " external conversion" is no conversion at all. A turning to 
God with the lips, while the heart is far from him, is mere pre- 
tence and mockery. But, though I never thought any thing else 
since I thought upon religion, I understand the *' turning to God" 
taught in the New Institution to be a coming to the Lord Jesus ; 
not a thinking about doing it, nor a repenting that we have not 

* John i. 12. 



THE CHRISTIAN SY&TEM. 209 

done it ; but an actual coming to him. The question then is, 
Where shall we find him ? Where shall we meet him? Nowhere 
on earth but in his institutions. *' Where he records his name/^ 
there alone can he be found ; for there alone has he promised to 
be found. I affirm, then, that the first institution, in which we can 
meet with God, is the institution for remission. And here it is 
worthy of notice, that the Apostles, in all their speeches and re- 
plies to interrogatories, never commanded an inquirer to pray, 
read, or sing, as preliminary to Ms coming; hvi always commanded 
and proclaimed immersion as the first duty^ or the first thing to he 
done, after a belief of testimony. Hence, neither praying, singing, 
reading, repenting, sorrowing, resolving, nor waiting to be better, 
was the converting act. Immersion alone was the act of turning 
to God. Hence, in the commission to convert the nations, the 
only institution mentioned after proclaiming the gospel was the 
immersion of the believers, as the divinely-authorized way of 
carrying out and completing the work. And from the day of 
Pentecost to the final Amen in the revelation of Jesus Christ, no 
person was said to be converted, or to turn to God, until he was 
buried in and raised up out of the water. 

If it were not to treat this subject as one of doubtful disputation, 
I would say, that, had there not been some act, such as immersion, 
agreed on all hands to be the medium of remission and the act 
of conversion and regeneration, the Apostles could not, with any 
regard to truth and consistency, have addressed the disciples as 
pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, and saved 
persons. If all this had depended upon some mental change, as 
faith, they could never have addressed their congregations in any 
other way than as the moderns do : and that is always in the lan- 
guage of doubt and uncertainty, — hoping a little, and fearing 
much. This mode of address and the modern compared is proof 
positive that they viewed the immersed through one medium, and 
we through another. They taught all the disciples to consider 
not only themselves as saved persoiis, but all whom they saw or 
knew to be immersed into the Lord Jesus. They saluted every 
one, on his coming out of the water, as saved, and recorded him 
as such. Luke write?: " The Lord added the saved daily to the 
congregation.'** 

Whenever a child is born into a family, it is a brother or a 
sister to all the other children of the family ; and its being born 

* Acts ii. 
18* 



210 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of the same parents is the act causative and declarative of its 
fraternity All is mental and invisible before coming out of the 
water ; and as immersion is the first act commanded, and the first 
constitutional act ; so it vras, in the commission, the act by vrhich 
the Apostles were commanded to turn or convert those to God 
who believed their testimony. In this sense, then, it is the con- 
verting act. No man can, scripturally, be said to be converted to 
God until he is immersed. How ecclesiastics interpret their own 
language is no concern of ours. We contend for the pure speech, 
and for the apostolic ideas attached to it. 

To resume the direct testimonies declarative of the r-emission 
of sins by immersion, we turn to the Gentiles. Peter was sent 
to the house of Cornelius to tell him and his family " words by 
which they might be saved.'^ He tells these words. He was 
interrupted by the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit. But it 
is to be noticed, that the testimony, to which the Holy Spirit there 
affixed its seal, was the following words : — *' To him gave all the 
prophets witness, that every one who believes on him shall re- 
ceive remission of sins hy his name,^^ While speaking these words, 
concerning remission of sins by or through his name, the Holy 
Spirit, in its marvellous gifts of tongues, fell upon them. 

Many, seeing so much stress laid upon faith or belief, suppose 
that all blessings flow from it immediately. This is a great mis- 
take. Faith, indeed, is the principle, and the distinguishing 
principle, of this economy : but it is only the principle of action. 
Hence, we find the name or person of Christ always interposed 
between faith and the cure, mental or corporeal. The woman 
who touched the tuft of the mantle of Jesus had as much faith 
before as after ; but, though her faith was the cause of her putting 
forth her hand, and accompanied it, she was not cured until the 
touch. That great type of Christ, the brazen serpent, cured no 
Israelite simply by faith. The Israelites, as soon as they were 
bitten, believed it would cure them. But yet they were not cured 
as soon as bitten ; nor until they looked to the serpent. It was one 
thing to believe that looking at the serpent would cure them; and 
another to look at it. It was the faith remotely ; but, immediately , 
the look, which cured them. It was not faith in the waters of 
Jordan that healed the leprosy of Naaman the Syrian. It was 
immersing himself in it, according to the commandment. It was 
not faith in the pool of Siloam that cured the blind man whose 
eyes Jesus anointed with clay ; it was his washing his eyes in 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 211 

Siloam's water. Hence, the imposition of hands, or a word, or a 
touch, or a shadow, or something from the persons of those 
anointed with the Holy Spirit, was the immediate cause of all the 
cures recorded in the New Testament. It is true, also, that with- 
out faith it is impossible to be healed ; for in some places Jesus 
could not work many miracles, because of their unbelief. It is 
so in all the moral remedies and cures. It is impossible to re* 
ceive the remission of sins without faith. In this world of means, 
(however it may be in a world where there are no means,) it is as 
impossible to receive any blessing through faith without the ap- 
pointed means. Both are indispensable. Hence tlie name of the 
Lord Jesus is interposed between faith and forgiveness, justifica- 
tion, and sanctification, even where immersion into that name is 
not detailed. It would have been unprecedented in the annals of 
the world for the historian always to have recorded all the cir- 
cumstances of the same institution, on every allusion to it ; and it 
would have been equally so for the Apostles to have mentioned 
it always in the same words. Thus, in the passage before us, the 
name of the Lord is only mentioned. So in the first letter to the 
Corinthians, the disciples are represented as saved, as washed, as 
justified, sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
Spirit of our God. The frequent interposition of the name of the 
Lord between faith and forgiveness, justification, sanctification, &c. 
is explained in a remark in Jameses speech in Jerusalem."^ It 
is the application of an ancient prophecy, concerning the conver- 
sion of the Gentiles. The Gentiles are spoken of as turning to, 
or seeking, the Lord. But who of them are thus converted ? 
" Even all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called.^' It is, 
then, to those uipon whom the name of the Lord is called, that the 
name of the Lord communicates remission, justification, &c. 

Some captious spirits need to be reminded that, as they some- 
times find forgiveness, justification, sanctification, &c. ascribed 
to grace, to the blood of Christ, to the name of the Lord, with- 
out an allusion to faith ; so we sometimes find faith, and grace, 
and the blood of Christ, without an allusion to water. Now, if 
they have any reason and right to say, that faith is understood in 
the one case ; we have the same reason and right to say, that water 
or immersion is understood in the other. For their argument 
is, that in sundry places this matter is made plain enough. This 
single remark cuts off all their objections drawn from the fact 

* Acts XV. 17. 



212 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

that immersion is not always found in every place where the name 
of the Lord, or faith, is found connected with forgiveness. Neither 
is grace, the blood of Christ, nor faith, always mentioned with 
forgiveness. When they find a passage where remission of sins 
is mentioned without immersion, it is weak or unfair in the ex- 
treme, to argue from that, that forgiveness can be enjoyed without 
immersion. If their logic be worth any thing, it will prove, 

THAT A MAN MAY BE FORGIVEN WITHOUT GRACE, THE BLOOD OF 
JESUS, AND WITHOUT FAITH: FOR WE CAN FIND PASSAGES, MANY 
PASSAGES, WHERE REMISSION, OR JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION, 
OR SOME SIMILAR TERM, OCCURS, AND NO MENTION OF EITHER GRACE, 
FAITH, OR THE BLOOD OF JESUS. 

As this is the pith, the marrow and fatness, of all the logic of 
our most ingenious opponents on this subject, I wish I could 
make it more emphatic than by printing it in capitals. I know 
Bome editors, some of our doctors of divinity, some of our most 
learned declaimers, who make this argument, which we unhesi- 
vatingly call a genuine sophism, the Alpha and the Omega of 
their speeches against the meaning and indispensable importance 
of Christian immersion. 

The New Testament would have been a curious book, if, every 
time remission of sins was mentioned or alluded to, it had been 
preceded by grace, faith, the blood of Jesus, immersion, &c. &c. 
But now the question comes, which, to the rational, is the empha- 
tic question: — Whether do they think, believe, teach, and 

PRACTISE MORE WISELY AND MORE SAFELY, WHO THINK, BELIEVE, 
AND TEACH THAT GRACE, FAITH, THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THE NAME 
OF THE LORD, AND IMMERSION, ARE ALL ESSENTIAL TO IMMEDIATE 

PARDON AND ACCEPTANCE ; OR THEY WHO SAY, THAT FAITH ONLY, 

GRACE ONLY, THE BLOOD OF CHRIST ONLY, THE NAME OF THE LORD 

ONLY — AND IMMERSION NOT AT ALL? To all men, womcu, and 
children, of common sense, this question is submitted. 

It is, however, to me admirable, that the remission of sins 
should be, not merely unequivocally, but so repeatedly declared 
through immersion, as it is in the apostolic writings. And here 
J would ask the whole thinking community, one by one, whether 
if the whole race of men had been assembled on Pentecost, or in 
Solomon^s Portico, and had asked Peter the same question which 
the convicted proposed, would he, or would he not, have given 
them the same answer ? Would he not have told the whole rape 
to reform, and be immersed for the remission of their sins? or to 



THE CHRISTIAN ST STEM. 213 

reform and be converted, that their sins might be blotted out? — tc 
arise and be immersed, and wash away their sins? If he would 
not, let them give a reason ; and if they say he would, let them 
assign a reason Avhy they do not go and do likewise. 

Some have objected against the " seasons of refreshment,'^ or 
the comforts of the Holy Spirit, being placed subsequent to "con- 
version,'' or "regeneration,^' or " immersion ;'' (for when we speak 
scripturally, we must use these terms as all referring to the same 
thing,) because the gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured out upon 
the Gentiles before immersion. They see not the design of thus 
welcoming the Gentiles into the kingdom. They forget the com- 
parison of the Gentiles to a returning prodigal, and his father 
going out to meet him, even while he was yet a good way off. 
God had welcomed the first-fruits of the Jews into his kingdom 
by a stupendous display of spiritual gifts, called the baptism of 
the Holy Spirit, before any one of the Jews had been immersed 
into the Lord Jesus. And, as Peter explains this matter in Cor- 
nelius's case, it appears that God determined to make no differ- 
ence between the Jews and Gentiles in receiving them into his 
kingdom. Hence, says Peter, "he gave them the same gift 
which he gave to us Jews at the beginning,'^ (never since Pente- 
cost.) Thus Peter was authorized to command those Gentiles to 
be immersed by the authority of the Lord, no man daring to 
forbid it. But these gifts of the Holy Spirit differed exceedingly 
from the seasons of refreshment, from the righteousness, peace, 
and joy in the Holy Spirit, the common enjoyment of all who 
were immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission 
of sins."^ 

Let it be noted here, as pertinent to our present purpose, that 
as the Apostle Peter was interrupted by the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, when he began to speak of the forgiveness by the name of 
the Lord Jesus ; so soon as he saw the Lord had received them, 
he commanded them to be immersed by the authority of the Lord. 
And here I must propose another question to the learned and the 
unlearned. How comes it to pass that, though once, and only 
once, it is commanded that the nations who believe should be im- 
mersed into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit ; and though we read of no person being immersed 
into this name in this way, I say, how comes it to pass that all 
sects use these words without a scruple, and baptize or sprinkle 

* See Christian Baptist, vol. vi. p. 268. 



214 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

in this name; when more than once persons are commanded to he 
immersed /b?' the remission of sins, and but few of the proclaimers 
can be induced to immerse for the remission of sins, though so 
repeatedly taught and proclaimed by the Apostles? Is one com- 
mand, unsupported by a single precedent, sufficient to justify 
this practice of Christians ; and sundry commands and precedents 
from the same authority insufficient to authorize or justify us in 
immersing for the remission of sins ? Answer this who can ; I 
cannot, upon any other principle than that the tyrant Custom, 
who gives no account of his doings, has so decreed. 

I come now to another of the direct and positive testimonies 
of the Apostles, showing that immersion for the remission of sins 
is an institution of Jesus Christ. It is the address of Ananias to 
Saul: — "Arise and be immersed, and wash away your sins, call- 
ing upon the name of the Lord.'' On this testimony we have not 
as yet descanted in this essay. It has been mentioned, but not 
examined. 

Paul, like the Pentecostian hearers, when convinced of the 
truth of the pretensions of the Messiah, asked what Tie should do. 
He was commanded to go into Damascus, and it should be told 
him there what to do. It was told him in the words now before 
us. But, say some, this cannot be understood literally. 

For experiment, then, take it figuratively. Of what was it figur* 
ative ? Of something already received ? Of pardon formerly be- 
stowed ? A figure of the past ! ? This is anomalous. I find one 
writer, and but one, who converts this into a commemorative bap- 
tism, like Israel's commemorating the escape from Egypt, or 
Christians commemorating the Lord^s death. And, if I do not 
mistake, some preacher said it was a figurative expression, simi- 
lar to " This is my body^' ! One, whom I pressed out of all re- 
fuges, was candid enough to say, he really did not know what it 
meant ; but it could not mean that Paul was to " be baptized for 
the remission of his sins'' I 

" To wash away sins" is a figurative expression. Like other 
metaphoric expressions, it puts the resemblance in place of the 
proper word. It necessarily means something analogous to what 
is said. But we are said to be washed from our sin in or by the 
blood of Christ. But even ^^waslied in hlood/' is a figurative ex- 
pression, and means something analogous to washing in water. 
Perhaps we may fiijd in another expression a means of recon- 
ciling these strong metaphors. Rev. vii. 14: " They have washed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 215 

Here are two things equally incompreLensible — to wash garments 
wliite in hlood, and to wash away sins in water ! ' An efficacy is 
ascribed to water which it does not possess, and, as certainly, an 
efficacy is ascribed to blood which it does not possess. If blood 
can whiten or cleanse garments, certainly water can wash away 
sins. There is, then, a transferring of the efficacy of blood to 
water, and a transferring of the efficacy of water to blood. This 
is a plain solution of the whole matter. God has transferred, in 
some way, the whitening efficacy or cleansing power of water to 
blood, and the absolving or pardoning power of blood to water. 
This is done upon the same principle as that of accounting faith 
for righteousness. What a gracious institution! God has opened 
a fountain for sin, for moral pollution. He has given it an ex- 
tension far and wide as sin has spread — far and wide as water 
flows. Wherever water, faith, and the name of the Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit are, there will be found the efficacy of the blood 
of Jesus. Yes, as God first gave the efficacy of water to blood, 
he has now given the efficacy of blood to water. This, as was 
said, is figurative ; ,but it is not a figure which misleads, for the 
meaning is given without a figure, viz.: immersion for the remis- 
sion of sins. And to him that made the washing of clay from 
the eyes the washing away of blindness, it is competent to make 
the immersion of the body in water efficacious to the washing 
away of s\nfrom the conscience. 

From the conscience, I say ; for there its malignity is felt ; and 
it is only in releasing the conscience from guilt, and its conse- 
quences — fear and shame, that we are released from the dominion 
of sin, or washed from its pollution in this world. Thus immer- 
sion, says Peter, saves us, not by cleansing the body from its 
filth, but the conscience from its guilt ; yes, immersion saves us 
by burying us with Christ, raising us with him, and so our con- 
sciences are purified from dead works to serve the living God. 
Hence our Lord gave so much importance to immersion in giving 
the commission to convert the world: — ^^He that believes and is 
immersed shall he saved J' 

But, while viewing the water and blood as made to unite their 
powers, as certainly as Jesus came by water and blood, we ought 
to consider another testimony given to this gracious combination 
of powers, by Paul the Apostle: — "Being sprinkled in heart from 
an evil conscience, and being washed in body with clean water.''* 

* Hebrews x. 24. 



216 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The application of water, the cleansing element, to the body, ih 
made in this gracious institution to reach the conscience, as did 
the blood of sprinkling under the law. 

Some ask, How can water, which penetrates not the skin, reach 
the conscience ? They boast of such an objection, as exhibiting 
great intellect and good sense. But little do they think, that, in 
BO talking, they laugh at and mock the whole Divine Economy, 
under the Old and New Institutions: for, I ask, did not the sacri- 
fices, and Jewish purifications, someway reach the conscience of 
that people ? If they did not, it was all mere frivolity throughout. 
And can eating bread, and drinking wine, not influence nor ajffect 
the soul? And cannot the breath of one man pierce the heart of 
another, and so move his blood, as to make his head a fountain of 
tears ? He who thus objects to water, and the import of immer- 
sion, objects to the whole remedial institution, as taught by Moses 
and by Christ, and insults the wisdom and goodness of God in 
the whole scheme of salvation. And he who objects to water, 
because it can only take away the filth of the flesh, ought rather 
to object to blood ; because it rather besmears and pollutes than 
cleanses the body, and cannot touch the soul. But all such rea- 
soners are foolish talkers. To submit to God^s institution is our 
wisdom, and our happiness. The experience of the myriads who 
were immersed for the remission of their sins, detailed in the 
Christian scriptures, to say nothing of those immersed in our 
times, is worth more than volumes of arguments from the lips 
and pens of those who can only regard and venerate the tradi- 
tions of their fathers; because it is presumed their fathers were 
wiser and more able to judge correctly than their sons. 

But as it is not our object to quote and expatiate upon all the 
sacred testimonies, direct and allusive, to immersion for the re- 
mission of sins, we shall close the proof and illustration of this 
proposition with an incidental allusion to the cleansing efi&cacy 
of this institution, found in the 2d Epistle of Peter."^ After enu- 
merating the additions to faith necessary to secure our calling 
and election, of which courage is the first, and charity, or uni- 
versal love, the last ; the Apostle says, that " he who has not 
these things is blind, shutting his eyes, and forgetting that he 
was jpurified from his old sinsJ^ I need not here say, that this- is, 
perhaps, (and certainly as far as I know,) universally understood 
to refer to Christian immersion. The '^old sins,''' or '^former 

* 2 Peter i. 9. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 217 

smSf'^ can, we presume, mean no other sins than those washed 
away in immersion. No person has yet attempted to show that 
these words can import any thing else. It is one of the most 
unequivocal, and, because incidental, one of the most decisive 
proofs, that, in Peter^s judgment, all former sins were remitted 
in immersion. With Peter we began our proof of this position, 
and with Peter we shall end our proof of it. He first proclaimed 
l-eformation for the remission of sins ; and in his last and fare- 
well letters to the Christian communities he reminds them of 
that purification from sin, received in and through immersion ; 
and in the strongest terms cautions them against forgetting that 
the}^ were so purified. 

Were any person to reason upon the simple import of the 
action commanded by Jesus, I think it might be made apparent 
from the action itself, in its two parts, the burial and the resurrec- 
tion, that it must import every thing which we have heard the 
Apostles ascribe to it. Corruption goes down into the grave 
literally, but does corruption come forth out of it? Is there no 
change of state in the grave ? Who is it that expects to come 
forth from the grave in the same state in which he descends into 
it? The first-born from the dead did not; nor shall any of them 
who fall asleep in him. How, then, can it be, that any person 
buried with Christ in immersion can rise with Christ, and not 
rise in a new state ? ! Surely the Apostle exhorts to a new life 
from the change of state effected in immersion. " Since, indeed, 
you have risen with Christ, set your affections on things above/' 
Walk in a new life. 

Again, and in the last place here, — Is a child in the same state 
after as before its birth? Is not its state changed? And does it 
not live a new life, compared with its former mode of living? As 
new-born babes desire the milk of the breast, so let the newly- 
regenerate desire the unadulterated milk of the Word, that they 
may grow thereby. Call immersion, then, a new birth, a wash- 
ing of regeneration, or a resurrection, and its meaning is the 
same. And when so denominated, it must import that change 
of state which is imported in putting on Christ, in being par- 
doned, justified, sanctified, adopted, reconciled, saved, which was 
the great proposition to be proved and illustrated, and which we 
think has been proved and illustrated by the preceding testimo- 
nies and reflections. " — ' ' -«— — — 

Though no article of Christian faith, nor item of Christian 
practice, can, legitimately, rest upon any testimony, reasoning, 

19 



Z^ 



218 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

or authority, out of the sacred writings of the Apostles, were it 
only one day after their decease; yet the views and practices of 
those who were the contemporaries or the pupils of the Apostles 
and their immediate successors may be adduced as corroborating 
evidence of the truths taught, and the practices enjoined, by the 
Apostles; and, as such, may be cited; still bearing in mind, that 
where the testimony of Apostles ends, Christian faith necessarily 
terminates. After this preliminary remark, I proceed to sustain 
the following proposition : — 

Prop. XI. — All the apostolical Fathers, as tliey are called; all ilie 
pupils of the Apostles ; and all the ecclesiastical writers of note^ 
of the first four Christian centuries, ivhose writings have come 
down to us ; allude to, and speak of, Christian immersion, as the 
^^ regeneration^' and ^^ remission of sins^' spoken of in the New 
Testament. 

This proposition I shall sustain by the testimony of those who 
have examined all Christian antiquity, and by citing the words 
of those usually called the Apostolic Fathers, and other distin- 
guished writers of the first four hundred years. We shall first 
summon one whose name is fiimiliar throughout Christendom. 
Whether the writing be genuine or spurious, it is on all hands 
admitted to be a fragment of the highest antiquity : — 

BARNABAS, 

In his catholic epistle, chapter xi., says, *'Let us now inquire 
whether the Lord took care to manifest any thing beforehand, 
concerning water and the cross. Now, for the former of these, it 
is written to the people of Israel, how they shall not receive that 
baptism which brings to forgiveness of sins ; but shall institute 
another to themselves that cannot. For thus saith the Prophet^ 
* Be astonished, Heavens ! and let the earth tremble at it ; be- 
cause these people have done two great and wicked things : They 
have left me, the fountain of living waters, and have digged for 
themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Is my holy 
mountain Zion a desolate wilderness? For she shall be as a 
young bird when its nest is taken away.' '' — " Consider how he hath 
joined both the cross and the loater together. For this he saith, 
^Blessed are they who, putting their trust in the cross, descend into 
t^e water; for they shall have their reward indue time; then, saJth 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 219 

he, will I give it them/ But as concerning the present time, he 
saith, * Their leaves shall not fail/ Meaning thereby that every 
word that shall go out of your mouth shall througli faith and 
charity be to the conversion and hope of many. In like manner 
does another Prophet speak : * And the land of Jacob was the 
praise of all the earth ;^ magnifying thereby the vessels of hij 
Spirit. And what follows ? * And there was a river running on 
tlie right hand, and beautiful trees grew^ up by it; and he that 
shall eat of them shall live forever.' The signification of which 
is this : — that we go down into the river full of sins and pollution; 
hut come vp again hmn g in g forth fruit; having in our hearts the 
fear and hope which are in Jesus hy the Spirit : * And whosoever 
shall eat of them shall live forever.' That is, whosoever shall 
hearken to those that call them, and shall believe, shall live 
forever.'' 



CLEMENT AND HERMAS. 

The former gives no testimony on the subject. Jhe latter de- 
ppses as follows.^ 

In speaking of a tower built upon the water, by which he sig- 
nified the building of Christ's church, he thus speaks: — "Hear, 
therefore, wh}^ the tow^er is built on the waters : because your life 
is saved, and shall be saved, by w^ater." In answ^er to the ques- 
tion, " Why did the stones come up into this tower out of the 
deep?" he says it was necessary for them to come up by (or 
through) water, that they might be at rest ; for they could not 
otherwise enter into the kingdom of God : for before any one re- 
ceives the name of the Son of God, he is liable to death ; but when 
he receives that seal, he is delivered from death and assigned to 
life. Now, that seal is ivaier, into which persons go dow^n liable 
to death, but come out of it assigned to life ; for which reason to 
these also was this seal preached; and they made use of it that 
they might enter the Kingdom of God." 

Both Clement and Hermas wrote about the end of the first oi 
beginning of the second century. 

Hermas, moreover, deposes as follows, in another work of his< 
called " The Commands of Hermas ."f 

"And I said to him, I have even now heard, from certain teach 
ers, that there Is no other repentance besides that of baptism ; 

• Book of Similitudes, chap, xti, f Com. 4, chap. iii. 



220 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

when we go down into the water, and receive the forgiveness of 
sins, and after that we should sin no more, but live in purity. 
And he said to me, Thou hast been rightly informedJ^ 

Having closely and repeatedly examined the Epistles of Cle- 
ment ; of Polycarp, to the Philippians ; of Ignatius, to the Ephe- 
Bians ; that to the Magnesians; that to the Trallians, the Romans, 
the Philadelphians, the Smyrnians, and his Epistle to Polycarp ; 
together with the catholic Epistle of Barnabas, and the genuine 
works of Hermas, I can affirm that the preceding extracts are the 
only passages in all these writings that speak of immersion. 

Having heard the apostolic Fathers, as they are called, depose 
to the views of the pupils of the Apostles, down to a.d. 140; I 
will summon a very learned Pedobaptist antiquarian, who can 
bring forward every writer and Father, down to the fifth century; 
and, before we hear any of his witnesses, we shall interrogate him 
concerning his own convictions after he had spent many years in 
rummaging all Christian antiquity : — 



TESTIMONY OF DR. W. WALL, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OP 
INFANT BAPTISM.* 

Pray, Doctor, have you examined all the primitive writers 
from the death of John down to the fifth century ? 

W. Wall— I have. 

And will you explicitly avow what was the established and 
miversal view of all Christians, public and private, for four hun- 
ired years from the nativity of the Messiah, on the import of the 
iaying, (John iii. 5,) "Except a man be born of water and the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God'^ ? 

W. Wall. — " There is not any one Christian writer of any an- 
tiquity in any language, but who understands it of baptism ; and, 
if it be not so understood, it is difficult to give an account how a 
person is born of water, any more than born of wood.'^ 

Did all the Christians, public and private, and all the Christian 
^liters from Barnabas to the times of Pelagius, (419,) as far as 
you know, continue to use the term regenerate as only applicable 
to immersion ? 

W, Wall. — " The Christians did, in all ancient times, continue 
the use of this name ^regeneration,' for baptism; so that they 
•never use the word * regenerate,' or ' born again,' but they meaL 

* 4th London edition, p. 116. vol. i. a.d. 1829. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 221 

or denote by it, baptism. And almost all the quotations which I 
shall bring in this book shall be instances of it/''^' 

Did they not also substitute for ''baptism^' and ''boptize,^^ the 
words renewed, sanctified^ sealed, enliglitened, initiated, as well as 
regenerated ? 

W. Wall. — *' For to baptize, they used the following words :•— 
Most commonly, anagennao, to regenerate ; sometimes, kainopoieo^ 
to renew ; frequently, agiazo, to sanctify. Sometimes they call 
it the seal; and frequently, illuinination, as it is also called, Heb. 
vi. 4 ; and sometimes, teliosis, initiation/^f *' St. Austin, not less 
than a hundred times, expresses baptized by the word sandijiedJ'X 
We shall now see some of W. Wall's witnesses; and I choose 
rather to introduce them from his own pen, as he cannot be sup- 
posed partial to the views I have presented in this essay ; — 



JUSTIN MARTYR. 

Justin Martyr wrote about forty years after John the Apostle 
died, and stands most conspicuous among the primitive Fathers. 
He addressed an apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius. In 
this apology he narrates the practices of the Christians, and the 
reasons of them. Concerning those who are persuaded and be- 
lieve the things which are taught, and who promise to live ac- 
cording to them, he writes : — 

*' Then we bring them to some place where there is water, and 
they are regenerated by the same way of regeneration by which 
we were regenerated : for they are washed in water (e?* to udati) 
in the name of God the Father and Lord of all things, and of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit ; for Christ says, 
Unless you be regenerated you cannot enter into the Kingdom of 
Heaven ; and everybody knows it is impossible for those who 
are once generated (or born) to enter again into their mother*s 
womb/' 

" It was foretold by Isaiah, as I said, by what m^eans they who 
lyhould repent of their sins might escape them ; and was written 
in these words, *Wash you, make you clean, put away the 
evil,"' &c. 

" And we have been taught by the Apostles this reason for this 
thing. Because we, being ignorant of our first birth, were gene- 
rated by necessity (or course of nature) and have been brought 

*Yol. i. p.24. fA^ol. i.p. 8. * ^age 19i. 



222 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

up in all customs and conversation ; that we should not continue 
children of that necessity and ignorance, but of will (or choice) 
and knowledge, and should ohtnin forgiveaess of the sins in which 
they have lived, by water, (or in water.) Then is invoked over 
him that has a mind to be regenerated, the name of God the 
Father, &c. And this washing is called the enlightening." 

As you trace the history of infant baptism, Mr. Wall, as nigh 
the apostolic times as possible, pray, why do you quote Justin 
Martyr, who never mentions it? 

W. Wall. — "Because his is the most ancient account of the way 
of baptizing, next the scripture ; and shows the plain and simple 
manner of administering it. Because it shows that the Christians 
of those times (many of whom lived in the days of the Apostles) 
used the word ''regeneration^ (or ^ being born again^) for bap- 
tism; and that they were taught to do so by the Apostles. And 
because we see by it that they understood John iii. 5, of water 
baptism; and so did all the writers of these four hundred years, 

NOT ONE MAN EXCEPTED.'' p. 54. 

Did any of the ancients use the word matheteueo (to disciple) 
as it is used in the commission ; or did they call the baptized dAs- 
cipled ? 

W. Wall. — ''Justin Martyr, in his second apology to Antoninus, 
uses it. His words are, ' Several persons among us, of sixty 
and seventy years old, of both sexes, who ivere discipled [ma- 
theteueo) to Christ, in or from their childhood, do continue uncor- 
rupted.'' — p. 54. 

So soon as they began to mysticize, they began to teach that 
immersion witliout faith would obtain remission of sins, and that 
immersion without faith was regeneration. Then came the de- 
bates about original sin: and so soon as original sin was proved, 
then came the necessity of infant immersion for the remission of 
original sin. And so undisputed Avas the import of baptism for 
remission, that when the Pelagians denied original sin, pressed 
with the difficulty, " why immerse those who have no sins V they 
were pushed to invent actual sins for infants ; such as their crying, 
peevishness, restlessness, &c., on account of which sins they sup- 
posed that infants might with propriety be immersed, though 
they had no original sin. 

I 

TERTULLIAN. 



VI (T 



Tertullian, the first who mentions inf\int baptism, flourished 
about A.D. 21G. He writes against the practice; and among hia 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 223 

most conclusive arguments against infont immersion, (for then 
there ^vas no sprinkling,) he assumes, as a fundamental principle 
not to be questioned, that immersion was for the remission of sins ; 
and, this being universally conceded, he argues as follows : — 

** Our Lord says, indeed, * Do not forbid them to come to me ;' 
therefore, let them come when they are grown up — let them come 
when they understand — when they are instructed whither it is 
that they come. Let them be made Christians when they can 
know Christ. What need their guiltless age make such haste to 
the forgiveness of sins? Men will proceed mere warily in worldly 
goods ; and he that should not have earthly goods committed to 
him yet shall have heavenly ! Let them know how to desire this 
salvation, that you may appear to have given to one that asketh.'' 
—p. 74. 

ORIGEN. 

Origen, though so great a visionary, is, nevertheless, a com- 
petent witness in any question of fact. And here I would again 
remind the reader, that it is as witnesses in a question o^ fact, 
and not of opinion, we summon these ancients. It is not to tell 
their own opinions, nor the reasons of them, but to depose what 
were the views of Christians on this institution in their times. 
There was no controversy on this subject for more than four 
hundred years, and therefore we expect only to find incidental 
allusions to it; but these are numerous, and of the most unques- 
tionable character. Origen, in his homily upon Luke, says, — 

"Infants are baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. Of 
what sins ? Or when have they sinned ? Or how can any reason 
of the law, in their case, hold good, but according to that sense 
that we mentioned even now? (that is) none is free from pollu- 
tion, though his life be but the length of one day upon the 
earth.'' 

And in another place he says, that 

*' The baptism of the church is given for the forgiveness of 
sins.'' 

And again — 

" If there were nothing in infants that wanted forgiveness and 
mercy, the grace of baptism would be needless to them." 

In another place he saj^s, — 

" But in the regeneration, (or new birth,) by the laver, (or bap- 
tism,) every one that is born again of water and the S'^^*>'' 



224 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

clear from pollution : clear (as I may venture to say) as by a glass 
darkly/^— p. 82. 

But now let me ask Dr. Wall, — Do Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, 
Ambrose, Chrysostom, and St. Austin, concur with all their pre- 
decessors in those views of regeneration and remission ? 

W. Wall. — " Yes, exactly. I have observed, among the several 
names which the ancients give to baptism, they often by this 
phrase, * the forgiveness of sins/ do mean the sacrament of bap- 
tism/^ — p. 179. And as for Chrysostom, he expressly says, "In 
baptism, or the spiritual circumcision, there is no trouble to be 
undergone but to throw off the load of sins, and to receive par- 
don for all foregoing offences.^' — p. 182. And again: *' There is 
no receiving or having the bequeathed inheritance before one is 
baptized ; and none can be called a son till he is baptized.^' — 
p. 183. 

The controversy about infant baptism and original sin were 
contemporaneous ; and just so soon as they decided the nature 
and extent of original sin, baptism for the remission of sins was 
given to infants because of this pollution, and defended because 
of the necessity of regeneration and forgiveness to salvation ; and 
because immersion was universally admitted to be the scriptural 
regeneration and remission. In this way, there is no reasonable 
doubt but infant baptism began ; and for convenience' sake, as Dr. 
Wall contends, it was substituted by infant sprinkling. 

Unless we were to transcribe all the testimonies of antiquity, 
one by one, no greater assurance can be given, that, for more than 
four hundred years after Christ, all writers, orthodox and hetero- 
dox, Pelagius and Austin not excepted, concurred in the preced- 
ing views. Were I to summon others — Eusebius, Dupin, Light- 
foot, and Hammond, cum multis aliis, will depose the same. 

This proposition we will dismiss with the testimony of the 
most renowned of the bishops of Africa. I extract it from a work 
now generally read, called the "History of the Martyrs.'^ It is 
from the account Cyprian gives of his conversion, — p. 317. 

CYPRIAN. 

" While (says he) I lay in darkness and uncertainty, I thoughi 
on what I had heard of a second birth, proposed by the divine 
goodness; but could not comprehend how a man could receive a 
new life from his being immersed in water, cease to be what he 
^ras Ijefore, and still remain the same body. How, said T, can 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 225 

such a change be possible ? Ho^Y can he who is gro\Yn old in a 
worldly way of living strip himself of his former inclinations 
and inveterate habits? Can he who has spent his whole time in 
plenty, and indulged his appetite without restraint, ever be trans- 
formed into an example of frugality and sobriety ? Or he who 
has always appeared in splendid apparel stoop to the plain, sim- 
ple, and unornamented dress of the common people ? It is impos- 
sible for a man who has borne the most honorable posts ever to 
submit to lead a private and obscure life ; or that he who was 
never seen in public without a crowd of attendants, and persons 
who endeavored to make their fortunes by attending him, should 
ever bear to be alone. This (continues he) was my way of ar- 
guing : I thought it was impossible for me to leave my former 
course of life, and the habits I was then engaged in and accus- 
tomed to : but no sooner did the life-giving water wash the spots 
off my soul, than my heart received the heavenly light of the 
Holy Spirit, which transformed me into a new creature ; all my 
difficulties were cleared, my doubts dissolved, and my darkness 
dispelled. I was then able to do what before seemed impossible ; 
could discern that my former life was earthly and sinful, accord- 
ing to the impurity of my birth ; but that my spiritual birth gave 
me new ideas and inclinations, and directed all my views to 
God/' 

Cyprian flourished a.d. 250. 



Prop. XII. — But even the reformed creeds. Episcopalian, Preshyte- 
rian, Methodist, and Baptist, substantially avow the same views 
of immersion, though apparently afraid to carry them out in 
faith and practice. 

This proposition will be sustained by an extract from the creed 
of each of these sects. 



EPISCOPALIAN. 

The ?lergy are ordered, before proceeding to baptize, tc make 
the following prayer.^ 

*' Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy didst 
save Noah and his family in the Ark from perishing by water ; 
and also didst safely lead the children of Israel thy people through 

* Common Prayer, p. 165. 



/ 



226 THE CIIRISTIA.N SYSTEM. 

the Red Sea; figuring thereby the holy baptism ; and, by the bap- 
tism of thy well-beloved Son Je!>as Christ in the river Jordan, 
didst sanctify th« element of water, in the mystical washing 
away of sin ; we beseech thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou 
wilt mercifully look upon these thy servants ; wash them and sanc- 
tify them with the Holy Ghost ; that they, being delivered from thy 
wrath, may be received into the Ark of Christ's Church ; and, 
being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, 
may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally 
they may come to the land of everlasting life ; there to reign with 
thee, world Avithout end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.^' 

After reading a part of the discourse with Nicodemus, they are 
ordered to make the following exhortation.^ 

" Beloved, ye hear in this gospel the express words of our Sa- 
viour Christ, that except a man be born of water and the Spirit 
he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Whereby ye may 
perceive the great necessity of this sacrament, where it may be 
had. Likewise immediately before his ascension into Heaven, 
(as we read in the last chapter of St. Mark's Gospel,) he gave 
command to his disciples, saying, Go ye into all the world and 
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 
Which also showeth unto us the great benefit we reap thereby. 
For which cause St. Peter, the Apostle, when, upon his first 
preaching of the gospel, many were pricked at the heart, and said 
to him and the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, Avhat shall 
we do? replied, and said unto them, Repent and be baptized every 
one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Ghost: for the promise is to you and your chil- 
dren, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord oui 
God shall call. And with many other words exhorted he them, 
saying. Save yourselves from this untoward generation. For, as 
the same Apostle testifieth in another place, even baptism doth 
also now save us, (not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but 
the answer of a good conscience towards God,) by the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ. Doubt ye not, therefore, but earnestly be- 
lieve, that he will favorably receive these present persons, truly 
repenting, and coming unto him by fiiith ; that he will grant them 
remission of their sins, and bestow upon them the Holy Ghost; 
that he will give them the blessings of eternal life, and make them 
partakers of his everlasting kingdom." 

* Page 165. 



THE CHinSTIAN SYSTEM. 



This, I need not add, is in accordance with the sentiments ad- 
vanced in this essay. What a pity that the Episcopal Church 
does not believe and practise her own creed ! 



PRESBYTERIAN. 

The Presbyterian Confession, on Baptism, xxviii. sec. 1, de- 
clares that — 

" Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by 
Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party bap- 
tized into the visible church ; but also to be unto him a sign and 
seal of the covenant of grace, of his engrafting into Christ, of 
regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, 
through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life : which sacra- 
ment is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in his 
church until the end of the world.'' 

"^ sign and seal of remission of sins P^ This is much nigher 
the truth than this church seems to be apprized of. However, 
she cannot believe her own creed; for she does not believe that 
baptism is a sign and a seal of remission of sins, nor of regene- 
ration in her own sense of it, to her baptized or sprinkled infants; 
but in paying any regard to the Scriptures, she could not say less 
than she has said. It is no wonder that many sectaries cannot be 
persuaded to think that the scriptures mean what they say: fop 
they are so much accustomed to say what they do not mean, that 
they cannot think God does mean what he says. 



METHODIST. 

The Methodist Creed says — 

*' Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born', 
in sin, (and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and they that 
are in the flesh cannot please God, but live in sin, committing 
many actual transgressions :) and that our Saviour Christ saith, 
None shall enter into the Kingdom of God, except he be regene- 
rate and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost ; I beseech 
you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that of his bounteous goodness he will grant to these persons that 
which by nature theij cannot have ; that they may be baptized 
with water and the Hol}^ Ghost, and received into Christ's holy 
church, and made lively memhers of the same." 



228 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Then it is ordained that the minister say, or repeat, the follow* 
ing prayer : — 

"Almighty and immortal God, the aid of all that need, the 
helper of all that flee to thee for succor, the life of them that be- 
lieve, and the resurrection of the dead: We call upon thee for 
these persons ; that thei/, coming to thy holy baptism, may receive 
remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration. Receive them, 
Lord, as thou hast promised by thy well-beloved Son, saying, 
Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you : so give unto us that ask ; let us that 
seek, find; open the gate unto us that knock; that these persons 
may enjoy the everlasting benediction of the heavenly washing, 
and may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised 
by Christ our Lord. Amen.^^ — Dis., p. 105. 

Thus the Methodist creed and church are nearly as scriptural 
as the church from which they sprang. She prays for those to 
be baptized, that in baptism they may receive the remission of 
sins ! Does she believe what she says? 



BAPTIST. 

Chapter XXX. Section 1. — *' Baptism is an ordinance of the 
New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party 
baptized a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resur- 
rection ; of his being engrafted into him ; of remission of sins, 
and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to live and 
walk in newness of life.'' 

The Baptist follows the Presbyterian church as servilely as the 
Methodist church follows the English hierarchy. But she avows 
her faith that immersion is a sign of remission. A sign (^ the 
past, the present, or the future! A sign accompanying! 

The Confession of Bohemia. — "We believe that whatsoever by 
baptism is in the outward ceremony signified and witnessed, all 
that doth the Lord God perform inwardly. That is, he warsiieth 
away sin, begetteth a man again, and bestoweth salvation upon 
him ; for the bestowing of these excellent fruits was holy baptism 
given and granted to the church.'' 

IVie Confession of Augsburg. — "Concerning baptism, they teacl 
that it is necessary to salvation, as a ceremony ordained of Christ 
also, by baptism the grace of God is ofi"ered." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 229 

The Confession of Saxony. — " I baptize thee — that h, I do wit- 
ness that by this dipping thy sins be washed away, and that thou 
art now received of the true God.'^ 

The Confession of WiUe7iburg. — '*We believe and confess that 
baptism is that sea, into the bottom whereof, as the Prophet saith, 
God doth cast all our sins/' 

The Confession of Helvetia. — " To be baptized in the name of 
Christ is to be enrolled, entered, and received into the covenant 
and family, and so into the inheritance, of the sons of God ; that 
is to say, to be called the sons of God, to be purged also from the 
filthiness of sins, and to be endued with the manifold grace of 
God, and to lead a new and innocent life/' 

The Confession of Sueveland. — "As touching baptism, we con 
fess that it is the font of regeneration, washeth away sins, and 
saveth us. But all these things we do understand as St. Peter 
doth interpret them. 1 Peter iii. 21.'' 

Westminster Assembly. — "Before baptism the minister is to use 
some words of instruction — showing that it is instituted by our 
Lord Jesus Christ; that it is a seal of the covenant of grace, of 
our engrafting into Christ, and of our union wdth him, of remis- 
sion of sins, regeneration, and life eternal." 

The Roman Catholic and the Greek church say, " We believe 
in one baptism for the remission of sins." 

Calvin makes remission the principal thing in Baptism.^ 

" Baptism," says he, "-resembles a legal instrument properly 
attested, by which he assures us that all our sins are cancelled, 
effaced, and obliterated, so that they will never appear in his sight, 
or come into his remembrance, or be imputed to us. For he com- 
mands all who believe, to be baptized for the remission of their 
sins. Therefore, those who have imagined that baptism is nothing 
more than a mark or sign by which we profess our religion before 
men, as soldiers wear the insignia of their sovereign as a mark 
of their profession, have not considered that which was the 
principal thing in baptism ; which is, that we ought, to receive it 
with this promise — He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved." 

*' The ancient Christian church, from the highest antiquity, 
after the apostolic times, appears generally to have thought that 
baptism is absolutely necessary for all that would be saved by 
the grace of Jesus Christ."t 

* In.^t. 1. 4, cxv. p. 327. f Vitringa, torn. I. 50, ii. c. 6, 9. 



230 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

. ** Most of the ancients concluded that baptism was no less ne- 
cessary unto salvation than faith or repentance itself/^"^ 

John Wesley, in his comment on the New Testament, (p. 250,) 
speaks plainer than either the Methodist Discipline, or the Re- 
gular Baptist Confession. His words are : — " Baptism, adminis- 
tered to real penitents, is both a means and a seal of pardon. Ncr 
did God ordinarily in the primitive church bestow this (pardon) 
on any, unless through this means. ^^ This is almost, if not alto- 
gether, as much as we have said on the forgiveness of sins through 
immersion. 

May we not say that we have sustained this last proposition tc 
the full extent of the terms thereof? 

With the testimony of John Wesley, the last of the reformers, 
I close my list of human vouchers for the import of Christian 
immersion. This list I could swell greatly ; for, indeed, I have 
been quite disappointed in looking back into creeds, councils, 
commentators, and reformers, ancient and modern. I begin to 
fear that I shall be suspected to have come to the conclusions 
which I have exhibited, from consulting human writings, creeds, 
and reformers. My fears are not that we, who plead for refor- 
mation, may appear to have nothing original to offer in this re- 
formation ; that we are mere gleaners in the fields which other 
minds have cultivated. It is not on this account our fears are 
excited, for the reformation we plead is not characterized by new 
and original ideas, or human inventions ; but by a return to the 
original ideas and institutions developed in the New Institution. 
' But we fear lest any should suspect the views offered to be a 
human invention or tradition ; because we have found so much 
countenance for them in the works of the most ancient and re- 
nowned Christian writers, and the creeds of ancient and modern 
reformers. We can assure our readers, however, that we have 
been led to these conclusions by the simple perusal, the unpre- 
judiced and impartial examination, of the New Testament alone- 
And we may add, that we are as much astonished as any reader 
of this essay can be, to find such a cloud of witnesses to the truth 
and importance of the views offered. 

The propositions now proved and illustrated must convince 
all that there is some connection between immersion and the for- 
giveness of sins. AVhat that connection is, may be disputed by 
some : but that such a connection exists, none can dispute, who 

* Owen on Justification, c. ii. p. 183. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 231 

acknowledge the New Testament to contain a divine communica- 
tion to man. With John Wesley, we say, it is "to the believing 
the means and seal of pardon for all previous offences -j" and we 
not only say Ave ill ink so, but we preach it as such, and practise 
it as such. Those who think of any other connection would do 
well to attempt to form clear ideas of what they mean; for we are 
assured there is no meaning in any other connection. To make 
it a commemorative sign of past remission is an outrage upon all 
rules of interpretation, and a perfect anomaly in all the revelation 
of God. To make it, prospectively, the sign of a future remission, 
is liable to the same exceptions.* Nothing remains but that it be 
considered — what it is in truth — the accompanying sign of an ac- 
companying remission ; the sign and the seal, or the means and 
the seal, of remission then granted through the water, connected 
with the blood of Jesus, by the divine appointment, and through 
our faith in it. 

We have heard some objections, and we can conceive of others 
which may be presented, to immersion for the remission of sins. 
There can be objections made to any person, doctrine, sentiment, 
or practice, natural, moral, political, or religious, that ever ex- 
isted. But, notwithstanding all the objections made to every 
thing, there are thousands of matters and things we hold to be 
facts and truths indubitable. Among these certain and sure 
things, not to be shaken, is this Christian institution. 

We will state and examine some objections partially noticed 
already; but, because they are the most common, or may become 
common, we will bestow upon them a formal statement and a 
formal refutation. 

Objection 1. — "To make the attainment and the enjoyment of 
present salvation, pardon, justification, sanctification, reconcilia-- 
tion, adoption, dependent upon the contingenc}^ of water being 
present, or accessible, is beneath the dignity and character of a 
salvation from God.'' 

And to make the attainment and the enjoyment of present 
salvation, pardon, &c. dependent upon the contingency of faith 
being present or accessible — upon the blood of Jesus Christ being 
heard of, or known — is equally objection(ible; for what is faith but 
the belief of testimony? Or what is it in the most popular sense 
but something wrought in the heart, a compound of knowledge 
and feeling, of assent and consent? And are not both blood and 
faith less accessible to mankind than the element of water? How 



232 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

much more water than faith, or than candidates for immersion ! 
And is there not as much power, wisdom, and goodness of God 
in creating water, as in creating air, words, letters, faith, &c.? Is 
not water more universal than language, words, books, preachers, 
faith, &c.? This objection lies as much against any one means 
of salvation as another ; nay, against all means of salvation. 
Whenever a case shall occur of much faith and little water ; or 
of a little faith and no water, we will repel it by other arguments 
than these. 

Objection 2. — ''It makes void the value, excellency, and im- 
portance of both faith and grace. ^' 

By no means. If a man say, with Paul, we are justified by 
faith, does it follow that grace is made void ? Or if one say 
we are justified by grace, does it make the blood of Christ of 
uon-efi'ect? Or if, with Paul, a man say we are justified by his 
blood, does it make faith, repentance, and grace of no efi'ect? 
Nay, indeed, this gives to faith its proper place and its due value. 
It makes it the principle of action. It brings us to the water, to 
Christ, and to heaven. But it is a principle of action only. It 
was not AbeFs fiiith in his head or heart, but Abel's faith at 
the altar, which obtained such reputation. It was not Enoch's 
faith in principle, but Enoch's faith in his loalk with God, which 
translated him to heaven. It was not Noah's faith in God's pro- 
mise and threatening, but his faith exhibited in building an ark, 
which saved himself and family from the Deluge, and made him 
an heir of a new world, an heir of righteousness. It was not 
Abraham's faith in God's call, but his going out in obedience to 
that call, that first distinguished him as a pilgrim, and began his 
reputation. It was not faith in God's promise that Jericho should 
fall, but that faith carried out in the blowing of rams' liorns, which 
laid its walls in ruins, &c. It is not our fiiith in God's promise 
of remission, but our going down into the water, that obtains the 
remission of sins. But any one may see why faith has so much 
praise, and is of so much value. Because, without it, Abel would 
not have ofi'ered more sacrifices than Cain; Enoch would not have 
walked with God; Noah would not have built an ark; Abraham 
would not have left Ur of the Chaldees, nor oifered up his son 
upon the altar. Without it, Israel would not have passed through 
the wilderness, nor crossed the Jordan ; and without it nono 
receive the remission of their sins in immersion. And again, we 
would remind the reader that, when he talks of being saved by 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 233 

faith, he should I ear in mind that grace is not lo^t sight of; nor 
blood, nor water, nor reformation discarded. 

We enter the kingdom of nature by being born of the flesh. 
We enter the kingdom of heaven, or come under the reign of 
Je^us Christ, in this life, by being born of water and the Spirit. 
We enter the kingdom of eternal glory by being born again from 
the earth, and neither b}^ faith, nor the first regeneration. Neither 
by faith, nor baptism : but by being counted worthy of the resur- 
rection of the just. " I was hungry, and you fed me.'^ Not be- 
cause you believed, or were born of water; but because "I was 
hungry, and you fed me,'^ &c. 

There are three births, three kingdoms, and three salvations: — 
one from the womb of our first mother, one from the water, and 
one from the grave. We enter a new world on, and not before, 
each birth. The present animal life, at the first birth ; the spi- 
ritual, or the life of God in our souls, at the second birth ; and 
the life eternal in the presence of God, at the third birth. And he 
who dreams of entering the second kingdom, or coming under the 
dominion of Jesus, without the second birth, may, to complete his 
error, dream of entering the 'kingdom of glory without a resurrec- 
tion from the dead. 

Grace precedes all these births — shines in all the kingdoms ; 
but will be glorified in the third. Sense is the principle of action 
in the first kingdom ; fiiith, in the second ; and sight spiritual, 
in the third. The first salvation is that of the body from the 
dangers and ills of life; and God is thus "the Saviour of all 
men.'' The second salvation is that of the soul from sin. The 
third is that of both soul and body united, delivered from moral 
and natural corruption, and introduced into the presence of God, 
when God shall be all in all. 

Objection 3. — " It is so uncharitable to the protestant Pedo- 
bf.ptists!'' 

And how uncharitable are the Pedobaptists to the Jews, 
Turks, and Pagans! Will they promise present salvation from 
the guilt, pollution, and dominion of sin, with the well-grounded 
hope of heaven, to Jews, Turks, Pagans, or even Roman Catho- 
lics? Or will the Roman Catholics to them? How uncharitable 
are they who cry ''uncJiaritahW to u.s! Infants, idiots, deaf and 
dumb persons, innocent Pagans wherever they can be found, with 
all the pious Pedobaptists, we commend to the mercy of God. 
But such of them as wilfully despise this salvation, and who, 

20«- 



234 ^HE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

having the opportunity to be immersed for the remission of their 
sins, AvilfuUy despise or refuse, we have as little hope for them 
as they have for all Avho refuse salvation on their oivn terms of the 
gospel. While they inveigh against us for laying a scriptural and 
natural stress upon immersion, do we not see that they Jay as 
great, though an unscriptural and irrational, stress upon their 
baptism or sprinkling ; so much so as to give it, icithoiit faith^ 
even to infants, so soon as they are born of the flesh? 

Objection 4. — *'But do not many of them enjoy the present sal- 
vation of God?^' 

How far they may be happy in the peace of God, and the hope 
of heaven, I presume not to say. And we know so much of 
human nature as to say, that he that imagines himself pardoned 
will feel as happy as he that is really so. But one thing we do 
know, that none can rationally and with certainty enjoy the peace 
of God, and the hope of heaven, but they who intelligently and 
in full faith are born of water, or immersed for the remission of 
their sins. And as the testimony of God, and not conceit, imagi- 
nation, nor our reasoning upon what passes in our minds, is the 
ground of our certainty, we see and feel that we have an assur- 
ance which they cannot have. And we have this advantage over 
them; we once stood upon their ground, had their hopes, felt their 
assurance; but they have not stood upon our ground, nor felt our 
assurance. Moreover, the experience of the first converts shows 
the difference between their immersion, and the immersion, or 
sprinklings, of modern gospels. 

Objection 5. — "This has been so long concealed from the peo- 
ple, and so lately brought to our view, that we cannot acquiesce 
in it.'' 

This objection would have made unavailing every attempt at 
reformation, or illumination of the mind, or change in the condi- 
tion and enjoyments of society, ever attempted. Besides, do not 
the experience of all the religious — the observation of the intelli- 
gent — the practical result of all creeds, reformations, and im* 
provements — and the expectations and longings of society — war- 
rant the conclusion that either some new revelation, or some new 
development of the revelation of God, must be made, before the 
hopes and expectations of all true Christians can be realized, or 
Christianity save and reform the nations of this world? We 
want the old gospel back, and sustained by the ancient order of 
things : and this alone, by the blessing of the Divine Spirit, is 
all that we do want, or can expect, to reform and save the worlds 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 235 

And if this gospel, as proclaimed and enforced on Pentecost^ 
cannot do this, vain are the hopes, and disappointed must be the 
expectations, of the so-called Christian world. 



RECAPITULATION. 

As Christian faith rests upon, and Christian practice proceeds 
from, the testimony of God, and not from the reasonings of men, 
I will, in this recapitulation, only call up the evidences on one 
single proposition, assumed, sustained, and illustrated in the 
preceding pages ; and that is the ninth proposition, as sustained 
by the apostolic testimony. We wish to leave before the mind of 
the intelligent reader the great importance attached to Christian 
immersion, as presented in the Evangelists, the Acts, and the 
Epistles. 

1. In the Evangelists — it is called the forgiveness of sins. Mat- 
thew and Mark introduce the Messiah in his own person in giving 
the commission. Luke does not. Matthew presents Jesus saying, 
*'Go, convert the nations, immersing them into the name of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe 
all things which I have commanded you.^^ This, of course, 
in order to salvation. Mark presents him saying, "Go into all 
the world, proclaim the glad tidings to the whole creation ; and 
he who believes, and is immersed, shall be saved ; but he who 
believes not shall be condemned." Luke, however, does not 
introduce the Lord in his own person in giving the charge ; but 
records it, in his own conception of it, in the following words :*-- 
that '* reformation and forgiveness of sins should be announced 
in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.'' No person, 
we presume, will question but that Luke thus records the com- 
mission ; and, if so, then it is indisputable that, as Luke neither 
mentions faith nor immersion, he substitutes for them the re- 
ceived import of both, when and where he wrote. Metonymically 
he places repentance, or rather reformation, for faith; and remis- 
sion of sins, for immersion. In Luke^s acceptation and time for- 
giveness of sins stood for immersion, and reformation for faith, — 
the effect for the means or cause. The only reference to the com- 
mission found in John occurs xx. 21: — "As the Father hath sent 
me, so send I you : whose sins soever you remit are remitted to 
them; and whose sins soever you retain are retained'' Here is 
neither faith, repentance, nor baptism; but the object, remission 



238 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of sins, is literally proposed. In the commissicn, salvation is at- 
tached by the Lord Jesus to faith an 1 immersion into his name. 
He that believes, and is immersed, shall be saved. Thus immer- 
sion is taught in the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John. 

2 In the Acts of the Apostles — Sermon 1, Peter says, "Reform 
and be immersed, every one of you, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Spirit.^^ Sermon 2, he says, *' Reform and be 
converted, that your sins may be blotted out; that seasons of re- 
freshment from the presence of the Lord may come, and that he 
may send Jesus, ^' &c. In the same discourse he says, **God 
having raised up his Son Jesus, has sent him to bless 3^ou, every 
one of you, turning from his iniquities.'^ In his 3d Sermon, re- 
corded Acts X., he says, " To him all the Prophets bear witness, 
that every one who* believes in him shall receive remission of 
sins by his nameJ^ Paul at Antioch, in Pisidia, declares, that 
through Jesus was proclaimed the remission of sins; and by him 
all that believe are justified from all things. Ananias commanded 
Paul to arise and be immersed, and to wash away his sins, calling 
upon the name of the Lord. Thus it is spoken of in the Acts of 
the Apostles. 

3. In the Epistles — The Romans are said to have been immersed 
into Christ Jesus — into his death; to have been buried with him, 
and consequently to have risen with him, and to walk in a new 
life. The Corinthians are said to have been washed, justified, 
and sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit 
of our God. The Galatians ''were immersed into Christ, and 
had put him on.'' The Ephesians were married to Christ, by 
immersion, as brides were wont to be washed in order to their 
nuptials. The assembly of the disciples, called the congregation 
of the Lord, making the bride of Christ, were said to be cleansed 
by the hath of water and the word. The Colossians were buried 
with Christ, raised with him, and are said to have been forgiven 
oil trespasses, when they were raised with him, where their resur- 
rection with Jesus and their having all sins forgiven are connect- 
ed.^ All the saints are said to be saved by immersion, or "the 
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit."! 
The believing Jews had their hearts sprinkled from an evil con- 
science, and their bodies washed with clean water, or water 
which made clean. Peter taught all the saints in Pontus, Gala* 

• Colossians ii. 11, 13, 14. f Titus iii. 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 237 

tia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, that the water of baptism 
saved them, as the water of the dehige saved Noah in the ark, 
and that in immersion a person was purged from all his former 
sins. And John the Apostle represents the saved as having 
''washed their rcbcs and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb/' and all the baptized little children as " having their sins 
forgiven/' Such are the evidences found in the Epistles. IIow 
numerous ! how clear ! and how unequivocal ! Are we not, then, 
warranted to say, Except a man be regenerated of water, and of 
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God? and that 
all who, believing, are immersed for the remission of their sins, 
have the remission of their sins in and through immersion ? 



CONCLUSION. 

A word to the regenerated. You have experienced the truth 
of the promise ; and, being introduced by that promise, you have 
become, like Isaac, children of promise. You heard the testimony 
of God concerning Jesus of Xazareth, and you believed it. You 
were, in consequence of your faith, so disposed towards the per- 
son of Jesus, as to be willing to put yourselves under his guid- 
ance. This faith, and this will, brought you to the water. You 
were not ashamed nor afraid to confess him before men. You 
solemnly declared you regarded him as God's only Son, and the 
Saviour of men. Y^ou vowed allegiance to him. Down into the 
water you were led. Then the name of the Holy One upon your 
faith, and upon your person, was pronounced. You were then 
buried in the water under that name. It closed itself upon you. 
In its womb you were concealed. Into the Lord, as in the water, 
you were immersed. But in the water you continued not. Of it 
you were born, and from it you came forth, raised with Jesus, and 
rising in his s&ength. There your consciences were released ; for 
there your old sins were washed away. And, although you re- 
ceived not the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which confirmed the tes- 
timony of the first disciples, you felt the powers of the world to 
come, were enlightened, and tasted the bounty of God r for sea- 
sons of refreshment from the presence of God came upon you. 
Your hearts were sprinkled from evil consciences, when your 
bodies were washed in the cleansing water. Then into the king- 
dom of Jesus you entered. The King of righteousness, of peace 
and jo}', extended his sceptre over you, and, sanctified in state 



238 ' THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

and in your whole person, you rejoiced in the Lord with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory. Being washed, you were sanctified, 
as well as acquitted. And now you find yourselves under the 
great Advocate, so that sin cannot lord it over you ; for you always 
look to the great Advocate to intercede for you ; and thus, if sin 
should overtake you, you confess and- forsake it, and alwa3^s find 
mercy. Adopted thus into, the family of God, you have not only 
received the name, the rank, and the dignity, but also the spirit 
of a son of God, and find, as such, that you are kings, priests, 
and heirs of God. You now feel that all things are yours, be- 
cause you are Christ's and Christ is God's. The hope of the 
coming regeneration of the heavens and the earth, at the resur- 
rection of the just, animates you. You look for the redemption, 
the adoption of your bodies, and their transfiguration. For this 
reason, you purify yourselves even as he is pure. Be zealous, 
then, children of God ; publish the excellencies of him who has 
called you into this marvellous light and bliss. Be diligent, that 
you may receive the crown that never fades, and that you may 
eat of the tree of life, which grows in the midst of the Paradise 
of God. If you suffer with Jesus, you w411 reign with him. If 
you should deny him, he will deny you. Add, then, to your faith, 
courage, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, 
and universal benevolence; for, if you continue in these things 
and abound, you shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the know- 
ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But, should you be 
deficient in these things, your light will be obscured, and a for- 
getfulness that you have been purified from your old sins will 
come upon you. Do, then, brethren, labor to make your calling 
and election sure ; for thus practising you shall never fall, but 
shall have an easy and abundant entrance into the everlasting 
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

A word to the unregenerate. Among you are sundry classes 
of character. Some of you who believe the gospel, and are 
changed in heart, quickened by the Spirit, are not generally ranked 
among the unregenerate. In the popular sense of this term, you 
are regenerate. But we use it in its scriptural acceptation. Like 
Nicodemus, and like Joseph of Arimathea, you believe in Jesus, 
and are willing to take lessons from him in the chambers. You 
have confidence in his mission, respect and venerate, and even 
love, his person ; and would desire to be under his government. 
Marvel not that I say to you, Yoit must be born again. Pious as 
you are supposed to be, and as you may think yourselves to be, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 239 

unless you are born again j^ou cannot enter the Kingdom of 
God. Cornelius and his family were as devout and pious as any 
of you. " He feared God, gave much alms to the people, and 
prayed to God continually.'^ Yet, mark it well, I beseech you, 
it was necessary ^^ to tell Mm words by which himself and his 
house might he savedJ' These words were told him : he believed 
them, and received the Holy Spirit ; yet still he must be born 
ugain. For a person cannot be said to be born again of any thing 
which he receives ; and still less of miraculous gifts of the Holy 
Spirit. He was immersed, and into the Kingdom of God he 
came. He was then saved. You need not ask how or why these 
things are so. Do as Cornelius did, and then you will think of it 
in another light, — then you would not for the world be unregene- 
rate. To have the pledge, the promise and seal of God, of the 
remission of all your sins ; to be adopted into his family, and tc 
receive the spirit of a son of God, be assured, my pious friends, 
are matters of no every-day occurrence ; and when you feel your- 
selves constitutionally invested with all these blessings, in God's 
own way, you will say '* that his ways are not as our ways, nor 
his thoughts as our thoughts ; for as the heavens are higher than 
the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts 
than our thoughts.^' It is hard to make a slave feel and act as a 
freeman. As difficult we often find it to make the unregenerate 
feel and know the value and importance of regeneration. But the 
regenerate would not be unregenerate for the universe. 

God has one way of bestowing every thing. We cannot gather 
grapes off thorns, nor figs off thistles. The reason is, there they 
do not grow. We can tell no other reason why they do not grow 
there, but that they do not grow there. We cannot have any 
blessing, but in God's own way of giving it. We cannot find 
wool save on the back of the sheep, nor silk save from the worm 
which spins it from itself. Corn and wheat cannot be obtained 
save from those plants which yield them. Without the plant we 
cannot have the fruit. This is the economy of the whole material 
system. And in the world of spirits, and spiritual influences, is 
it not the same? Moral law is as unchangeable as the laws of 
nature. Moral means and ends are as inseparable as natural 
means and ends. God cannot bestow grace upon the proud, and 
cannot withhold it from the humble. He does not do it, and that 
is enough. He could shower down wheat and corn, and give 
us rivers of milk and wine, were it a question of mere power. 
But taking all together, his wisdom, power, and goodness, he 



240 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

cannot do it. So neither can he give us faith without testimony, 
hope without a promise, love without an amiable object, peace 
without purity, nor heaven vrithout holiness. He cannot give to 
the unborn infant the light of the sun, the vivacity which the air 
imparts, nor the agility and activity which liberty bestows. He 
does not do it, and therefore we say, he cannot do it. Neither can 
he bestow the blessings of the Reign of Heaven upon those who 
are children of disobedience. 

I know how reluctant men are to submit to God's government; 
and yet they must all bow to it at last. " To Jesus every knee 
shall boAV, and to him every tongue confess.^' But they will ob- 
ject to bowing noiv, and torture invention for excuses. They Avill 
tell me, all that I have said is true of natural and moral means 
and ends ; but immersion is not a moral means, because God for- 
gave sins and saved men before immersion was appointed. " It 
is a positive and not a moral institution.^' And is there no moral 
influence connected with positive institutions? A written law is 
a positive institution ; for moral law existed before written. But 
because it has become a positive institution, has its moral power 
ceased ? The moral influence of all positive institutions is God's 
WILL expressed in them. And it matters not whether it be the 
eating or not eating of an apple ; the building of an altar, or the 
building it with or without the aid of iron tools ; the offering of 
a kid, a lamb, a bullock, or a pigeon : it is just as morally binding 
and has the same moral influence, as " You shall honor your father 
and mother ;'' or ''You shall not kill/' It is the will of God in 
any institution, which gives it all its moral and physical power. 
No man could now be pardoned as Abel was — as Enoch was — as 
David Avas — as the thief upon the cross was. These all lived 
before the second will of God was declared. He took away *' the 
first ivill/' says Paul, " that he might establish the second ivill/^ 
by which we are sanctified ! We are not pardoned as Avere ihe 
Jews or the Patriarchs. It was not till Jesus was buried and rose 
again, that an acceptable offering for sin was presented in the 
heavens. By one offering up of himself, he has perfected the 
conscience of the immersed or sanctified. Since his oblation, a 
new institution for remission has been appointed. You need not 
flatter yourselves that God will save or pardon you except for 
Christ's sake ; and if his name is not assumed by you, if you 
have not put him on, if you have not come under his advocacy, 
you have not the name of Christ to plead, nor his intercession on 
your behalf — and, therefore, for Christ's sake you cannot be for- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 241 

given. Could Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, think 
you, if living now, — C( uld they, I ask, find forgiveness at the 
altar ? And will you imagine that he, who honored every insti- 
tution by Moses, by connecting rewards and punishments with 
the obedience or disobedience of his commands, will be less jealous 
for the honor of the institution of his Son ? And will that Son, 
who, for no other purpose than to honor his Father^s institution, 
was immersed in the Jordan, bestow pardon or salvation upon any 
who refuses to honor him, and him that sent him ? He has been 
graciously pleased to adapt means to ends. He has commanded 
immersion for the remission of sins ; and think you that he will 
change his institution, because of your stubborn, intractable dis- 
positions ? As well, as reasonably, might you pray for loaves from 
heaven, or manna, because Israel eat in the desert, as to pray for 
pardon while you refuse the remission of sins by immersion. 

Demur not because of the simplicity of the thing. Kemember 
how simple was the eating of the fruit of that tree "whose mor- 
tal taste brought death into the world and all our woe.'' How 
simple was the rod in the hand of Moses, when stretched over 
Egypt and the Red Sea! How simple was looking at the brazen 
serpent! And how simple are all God's institutions! How sim- 
ple the aliments of nature ! — the poisons, too, and their remedies ! 
Where the will of God is, there is omnipotence. It was simple 
to speak the universe into existence. But God's will gives effi- 
cacy to every thing. And obedience ever was, and ever will be, 
the happiness of man. It is the happiness of heaven. It is 
God's philanthropy ':7hich has given us something to obey. To 
the angels who sinned he has given no command. It was gracious 
to give us a command to live — a command to reform — a command 
to be born again — to live forever. Remember, light and life first 
came by obedience. If God's voice had not been obeyed, the 
water would not have brought forth the earth, nor would the sun 
have blessed it with his rays. The obedience of law was good- 
ness and mercy ; but the obedience of faith is favor, and life, and 
glory everlasting. None to whom this gospel is announced will 
perish, except those who know not God, and obey not the gospel 
of his Son. Kiss, then, the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish 
forever. 

To the unregenerate of all classes, whose education and pre- 
judices compel them to assent to the testimony of Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. — You own the mission 

2) 



242 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of Jesus from the bosom of the Eternal — and that is all you do ! 
Each of you is living without God, and without hope in the 
world — aliens from the family of God — of various ranks and 
grades among men; but all involved in one condemnation, because 
light has come into the world, and you love darkness, and the 
works of darkness, rather than light. To live without hope is 
bad enough ; but to live in constant dread of the vengeance ot 
Heaven is still worse. But do you not tremble at the word of 
God? 

If you can be saved here or hereafter, then there is no meaning 
in language, no pain in the universe, no truth in God; death, the 
grave, and destruction, have no meaning. The frowns of Heaven 
are all smiles, if you perish not in your ways. 

But you purpose to bow to Jesus, and to throw yourselves upon 
his mercy at last. Impious thought ! When you have given the 
strength of your intellect, the vigor of your constitution, the 
warmth of your affections, the best energies of your life, to the 
world, the flesh, and the devil, you will stretch out your palsied 
hand and turn your dim eyes to the Lord, and say, "Lord, have 
mercy upon me !" The first-fruits and fatlings for the devil, the 
lame and the blind for God, is the purpose of your heart, and the 
best resolution you can form ! 

The thief upon the cross, had he done so, could not have found 
mercy. It is one thing to have known the way of salvation, as- 
sented to it, and to have in deliberate resolution rejected it for 
the present, with a promise of obeying it at some future period ; 
and to have never known it, nor assented to it, to the end of life. 
Promise not, then, to yourselves, what has never happened to 
others. The devil has always said, " You may give to-morrow 
to the Lord — only give to me to-day, ^^ This has been all that he 
has asked, and this is what you are disposed to give. Promise 
not to-morrow to the Lord, for you will be still less disposed to 
give it when it comes ; and the Lord has not asked you for to- 
morrow. He says, to-day, when you shall hear his voice, harden 
not your hearts. But you say, you are willing to come to the 
Lord to-day if you knew the way, or if you were prepared ! Well, 
what does the Lord require of you 2l^ preparation? He once said, 
" Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man 
his thoughts ; and let him turn to the Lord, and he will have 
mercy upon him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.'' 
He says also, ** Draw nigh to me, and I will draw nigh to you." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 24© 

** Cleanse your hands, you sinners ; and purify your hearts, you 
men of two souls ;^' "Wash you, make you clean; put away the 
evil of your doings ;'^ *' Reform and be converted ;^^ *' Turn to the 
Lord;'' " Be immersed for the remission of your sins ;'' and " Sub- 
mit to the government of Jesus/' " What ! just as I am?" Pray, 
how are you ? Have you such a persuasion in your heart of the 
mission of Jesus, as God's own Son and the only Saviour ; and 
have you so much confidence in his personal character, as to be 
willing to surrender yourself to him for the present and future 
— for time and eternity? "I have," you say. As one that has 
heard his voice, I say then. Come and be regenerated, and sea- 
sons of refreshment from the Lord will come to you. 

"But I thought I ought to feel like a Christian first, and to have 
the experience of a Christian before I come to the Lord." In- 
deed ! Did the Lord tell you so ? " His ministers taught me so.'^ 
It is hard knowing who are his ministers nowadays. His com- 
missioned ministers taught you not so. They were not taught to 
say so. The Master knew that to wait for health before we went 
to the physician — to seek for warmth before we approach the 
fire — to wait till we ceased to be hungry before we approached 
the table — was not reasonable. And therefore he never asked, 
as he never expected, any one to feel like a Christian before he 
was immersed and began to live like a Christian. None but the 
citizens of any country can experience the good or evil of the 
government which presides over it. None but the married can ex- 
perience the conjugal relation and feelings. None but sons and 
daughters can have the experience of sons and daughters; and 
none but those who obey the gospel can experience the sweets of 
obedience. I need not add, that none but the disobedient can 
experience the pains, the fears, the terrors of the Lord — the shame 
and remorse which are the first-fruits of the anguish and misery 
which await them in another world. As the disobedient, who 
stumble at the word, have the first-fruits of the awful destruction 
from the presence of the Lord which awaits them, so the obe- 
dient have the first-fruits of the Spirit — the salvation of their souls, 
as an earnest of the salvation to be revealed at the coming of 
the Lord. 

And now let me ask all the unregenerate. What do you propose 
to yourselves by either delaying or refusing to come to the Lord? 
Will delaying have any tendency to fit you or prepare you for his 
salvation? Will your lusts have less power, or sin have less 



244 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

dominion over you, by continuing under their control? Has tho 
intoxicating cup, by indulgence, diminished a taste for it? Has 
the avarice of the miser been weakened, or cured, by yielding to 
it? Has any propensity been destroyed by gratifying it, in any 
other way than as it destroyed the animal system? Can you, 
then, promise yourselves that, by continuing in disobedience, you 
will love obedience and be more inclined to submit when you 
have longer resisted the Spirit of God ? Presume not on the mercy 
of God, but in the way that mercy flows. Grace has its chan- 
nels, as the waters have their courses ; and its path, as the light- 
ning of the clouds. Each has its law, as fixed as the throne 
of God ; and think not God will work a miracle for your sal- 
vation. 

Think you that the family of Noah could have been saved, if 
they had refused to enter into the Ark ? Could the first-born of 
Israel have escaped the destroying angel, but in houses sprinkled 
with blood ? Or could Israel have escaped the wrath of Pharaoh, 
but by being immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea ? 
These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the con- 
summation of past ages has come. Arise, then, and be immersed, 
and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. 
The many who refuse grace will neither prove you wise nor safe 
in disobedience. 

" Multitudes are no mark 

That you will right be found; 
A few were saved in the Ark, 

For many millions drown' d. 
Obey the gospel call, 

And enter while you may: 
Christ's flock have long beeci small. 

Yet none are safe but they." 



EFFECTS OF MODERN CHRISTIANITY.* 

Our greatest objection to the systems which we oppose is their 
impotency on the heart. Alas ! what multitudes of prayerless, 
saintless, Christless, joyless hearts have crowded Christianity 
out of the congregations by their experiences before baptism ! 
They seem to have had all their religion before they professed it. 

* A second essay, called the " Extra Defended,^'' on this same subject, in reply to 
a pamphlet from Elder Andrew Broaddus, of Virginia, titled the " fextra Exa- 
mined," appeared in October, 1831. From our Defence, we here insert only four 
extracts, — the subject, as defended, being fully expressed in the preceding essay. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 245 

They can relate no experience since "baptism, comparable to that 
professed before the "mutual pledge^' was tendered and received. 

It was the indubitable proofs of the superabundance of this 
fruit, which caused me first to suspect the far-famed tree of evan- 
gelical orthodoxy. That cold-heartedness — that stiff and mer- 
cenary formality — that tithing of mint, anise, and dill — that 
negligence of mercy, justice, truth, and the love of God, which 
stalked through the communions of sectarian altars — that apathy 
and indifference about " thus saith the Lord/' — that zeal for human 
prescriptions, and, above all, that willing ignorance of the sayings 
and doings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, which so generally 
appeared — first of all created, fostered, and matured my distrust 
in the reformed systems of evangelical sectaries. Communion, 
with me, was communion of kindred souls, immersed into one 
God, that celestial magnet which turns our aspirations and ado- 
rations to him who washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
and made us kings and priests to God. 

To sit in the same pew ; to gather round the same pulpit ; to 
put our names to the same covenant, or subscription-list ; to con- 
tribute for a weekly sermon ; to lisp the same opinions, extracted 
from the same creed ; always appeared to me unworthy bonds of 
union or communion, and therefore my soul abhorred them as 
substitutes for the love of God shed abroad in the heart, for the 
communion of the Holy Spirit. *' If a man would give all the 
substance of his house as a substitute for love, it should be ut- 
terly contemned.'^ 

The Divine Philosopher preached reformation by addressing 
himself to the heart. We begin with the heart. " Make the tree 
good,^^ and then good fruit may be expected. But this appears 
to be the error of all sects in a greater or less degree ; they set 
about mending the heart, as preliminary to that which alone can 
create a neio heart. Jesus gives us the philosophy of his scheme 
in an address to a sinner of that time : — '' Your sins,'^ says he, *'are 
forgiven you : go, and sin no more.^^ He first changes the sinner's 
state, not external, but internal, and then says, " Go, and sin no 
more.'' He frankly forgave the debt. The sinner loved him. 

There was much of this philosophy in the question, " Who 
loves most — he that was forgiven five hundred pence, or he that 
was forgiven fifty?" How much does he love who is not forgiven 
at all? Ay, that question brings us onward a little to the reason 
why the^ first act of obedience to Jesus Christ should be baptism 
into his name, and that for the remission of sins. 






246 THE CHRISTIAN ST STEM. 

But now we speak of the exercises of the heart. While any 
man believes the words of Jesus, "Out of the heart proceed the 
actions which defile the man/^ he can never lose sight of the 
heart, as the object on which all evangelical arguments are to 
terminate, and as the fons et principium, the fountain and origin, 
of all piety and humanity. 

Once for all, let it be distinctly noted, that we appreciate no- 
thing in religion which tends not directly and immediately, proxi- 
mately and remotely, to the purification and perfection of the 
heart. Paul acts the philosopher fully once, and, if we recollect 
right, but once, in all his writings upon this subject. It has been 
for many years a favorite topic with me. It is in his first epistle 
to Timothy: — " Now the end of the commandment [or gospel] is 
love out of a pure heart — out of a good conscience — out of faith 
unfeigned.'^ Faith unfeigned brings a person to remission, or to 
a good conscience ; a good conscience precedes, in the order of 
nature, a pure heart ; and that is the only soil in which love, that 
plant of celestial origin, can grow. This is our philosophy of 
Christianity — of the gospel. An'd thus it is the wisdom and 
power of God to salvation. We proceed upon these as our axiom- 
ata in all our reasonings, preachings, writings : — 1st, unfeigned 
faith ; 2d, a good conscience ; 3d, a pure heart ; 4th, love. The 
testimony of God, apprehended, produces unfeigned or genuine 
faith ; faith, obeyed, produces a good conscience. This Peter de- 
fines to be the use of baptism, the answer of a good conscience. 
This produces a pure heart, and then the consummation is love — 
love to God and man. 

Paul's order or arrangement is adopted by us as inMlible. 
Testimony — faith unfeigned — remission, or a good conscience — 
a pure heart — love. Preaching, praying, singing, commemorating, 
meditating, all issue here. "Happy the pure in heart, for they 
shall see God.'' 



IMMERSION NOT A MERE BODILY ACT. 

Views of baptism, as a mere external and bodily act, exert a 
very injurious influence on the understanding and practice of men. 
Hence many ascribe to it so little importance in the Christian 
economy. "Bodily exercise,'' says Paul, "profits little." We 
have been taught to regard immersion in water, into the name of 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as an act of the whole 
man, — body, soul, and spirit. The soul of the intelligent subject 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 247 

is as fully immersed into the Lord Jesus, as his body is immersed 
17} the ivater. His soul rises with the Lord Jesus, as his body 
rises out of the water; and into one spirit with all the family of 
God is hd immersed. It is not like circumcising a Hebrew in- 
fant or proselyting to Moses a Gentile adult. The candidate, 
believing in the person, mission, and character of the Son of God, 
and willing to submit to him, immediately, upon recognising him, 
hastens to be buried with the Lord, and to rise with him, not 
corporeally, but spiritually, with his whole soul. 

Reader, be admonished how you speak of bodily acts in obe- 
dience to divine institutions. Eemember Eve, Adam, and all 
transgressors on the one hand. Remember Abel, Noah, Enoch, 
Moses, Abraha^m, down to the harlot Rahab, on the other ; and be 
cautious how you speak of bodily acts ! Rather remember the 
sacrifice of a body on Mount Calvary, and talk not lightly of 
bodily acts. There is no such thing as outward bodily acts in the 
Christian institution; and less than in all others, in the act of 
immersion. Then it is that the spirit, soul, and body of man 
become one with the Lord. Then it is that the power of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit comes upon us. Then it is that we 
are enrolled among the children of God, and enter the ark, which 
will, if we abide in it, transport us to the Mount of God. 



JUSTIFICATION ASCRIBED TO SEVEN CAUSES. 

In examining the New Testament, we find that a man is said 
to be ''justified by faith,'' Rom. v. 1 ; Gal. ii. 16, iii. 24. ''Jus- 
tijied freely by his grace,'' Rom. iii. 24 ; Titus iii. 7. '' Justified 
by his blood," Rom. v. 9. " Justified by works," James ii. 21, 24, 
25. " Justified in or by the name of the Lord Jesus," 1 Cor. vi. 11. 
" Justified by Christ," Gal. ii. 16. " Justified by knowledge," Isa. 
liii. 11. "It is God that justifies,'^ Rom. iii. 33, viz.: by these 
seven means, — by Christ, his name, his blood, by knowledge, 
grace, faith, and by works. Are these all literal ? Is there no 
room for interpretation here? He that selects faith out of seven 
must either act arbitrarily or show his reason ; but the reason 
does not appear in the text. He must reason it out; he must infer 
it. Why, then, assume that faith alone is the reason of our jus- 
tification ? Why not assume that the name of the Lord alone is 
the great matter, seeing his name ^^is the only name given under 
heaven by which any man can be saved ;'^ and men "who believe 



248 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

receive tlie remission of sins hy Ms namef^"^ and, especially, be- 
cause the name of Jesus, or of the Lord, is more frequently men- 
tioned in the New Testament, in reference to all spiritual bless- 
ings, than any thing else ! Call all these causes or means of 
justification, and what then? We have the grace of God for the 
moving cause, Jesus Christ for the efficient cause, his blood the 
procuring cause, knowledge the disposing cause, the name of the 
Lord the immediate cause, faith the. formal cause, and works for 
the cancujTing cause. For example : a gentleman on the sea- 
shore descries the wreck of a vessel at some distance from land, 
driving out into the ocean, and covered with a miserable and 
perishing sea-drenched crew. Moved by pure philanthropy, he 
sends his son in a boat to save them. When the boat arrives at 
the wreck, he invites them in, upon this condition, that they submit 
to his guidance. A number of the crew stretch out their arms, 
and, seizing the boat with their hands, spring into it, take hold of 
the oars, and row to land, while some, from cowardice, and others 
because of some difficulty in coming to the boat, wait the expecta- 
tion of a second trip ; but before it returned, the wreck went to 
pieces, and they all perished. The moving cause of their salva- 
tion who escaped was the good-will of the gentleman on the 
shore ; the son, who took the boat, was the efficient cause ; the boat 
itself, the procuring cause ; the knowledge of their perishing con- 
dition and his invitation, the disposing cause; the seizing the boa.t 
with their hands, and springing into it, the immediate cause ; 
their consenting to his condition, the formal cause ; and their 
rowing to shore, under the guidance of his son, was the concurring 
cause of their salvation. Thus men are justified or saved by 
grace, by Christ, by his blood, by faith, by knowledge, by the 
name of the Lord, and by works. But of the seven causes, tliree 
of which are purely instrumental, why choose one of the instru- 
mental, and emphasize upon it as the justifying or saving cause, 
to the exclusion of, or in preference to, the others ? Every one in 
its own place is essentially necessary. 

If we examine the word saved in the New Testament, we shall 
find that we are said to be saved by as many causes, though some 
of them differently denominated, as those by which we are said 
to be justified. Let us see : we are said to be ''saved by grace,^^ 
Eph. ii. 5 ; *' saved through his life,^^ Rom. v. 9, 10 ; '^ saved 
through faith,'^ Eph. ii. 8, Acts xvi. 31 ; ** saved by baptism/^ 

* Acts X. 43. 



THTi: CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 249 

1 Peter iii. 21; or '*by faith and baptism/^ Mark xvi. 16 ; or "bj' 
the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," 
Titus iii. 5 ; or *' by the gospel," 1 Cor. xv. 1 ; or " by calling 
upon the Lord," and by *' enduring to the end," Acts ii. 21, Rom. 
X. 13, Matt. X. 22. Here we have salvation ascribed to grace, 
to Jesus Christ, to his death and resurrection — three times to bap- 
tism, either by itself or in conjunction, once with faith, and once 
with the Holy Spirit ; to works, or to calling upon the Lord, or 
to enduring to the end. To these we might add other phrases 
nearly similar, but these include all the causes to which we have 
just now alluded. Saved by grace, the moving cause ; by Jesus, 
the efficient cause ; by his death, and resurrection, and life, the 
procuring cause; by the gospel, the disposing cause; by faith, the 
formal cause ; by baptism, the immediate cause ; and by enduring 
to the end, or persevering in the Lord, the co7icurring cause. 



PETER IN JERUSALEM, AND PAUL IN PHILIPPI, RECONCILED. 

Thousands ask Peter, What shall we dof The jailer asks 
Paul, What shall I do? to be saved, if the reader pleases. Peter 
says, ^'Reform and be baptized, every one of you," &c. Paul 
answers, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved, with thy family." How is this, Paul and Peter ? Why 
do you not preach the same gospel, and answer the same ques- 
tion, in the same or similar terms ? Paul, do you preach another 
gospel to the Gentiles than that Peter preached to the Jews ? 
What say est thou, Paul? Paul replies — " Strike, but hear me. 
Had I been in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, I would have 
spoken as Peter did. Peter spoke to believing and penitent 
Jews ; I spoke to an ignorant Roman jailer. I arrested his atten- 
tion after the earthquake, by simply announcing that there was 
salvation to him and all his family through belief in Jesus." — 
But why did you not mention repentance, baptism, the Holy 
Spirit? "Who told you I did not?" Luke says nothing about 
it ; and I concluded you said nothing about them. Luke was a 
faithful historian, was he not? " Yes, very faithful: and why did 
you not faithfully hearken to his account ? Does he not imme- 
diately subjoin that 'as soon as I got the jailer^s ear, I spoke the 
word of the Lord to him, and to all that ivere in his house V Why, 
you reason like a Pedobaptist. You think, do you, that the 
jailer's children were saved by his faith ! " I spoke the whole 



250 TFIE CHRIRTTAN SYSTEM. 

gospel, or word of the Lord, to the jailer and to his family. In 
speaking the loord of the Lord, I mentioned repentance, baptism, 
remission, the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, judgment, and eternal 
life : else why should I have baptized him and all his house, and 
why should he have rejoiced afterwards with all his family?'^ 
Paul, I beg your pardon. I will not now interrogate Peter, for 
r know how he will answer me : he would say, '* Had I been in 
Philippi, I would have spoken to an ignorant Pagan as Paul did, 
to show that salvation flowed through faith in Jesus ; and when 
he believed this and repented, I would then have said, Be baptized 
for the remission of your sins/' 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 251 



KEGENERATION. 

"I create New Heavens and a New Earth." — Isaiah Ixv. 18. 
"Behold, I make all things new." — Revelation xxi. 5 

We intend an essay full of *' the seeds of things/' The topic 
is a common one, a familiar one, and yet it is an interesting one. 
Much has been said, much has been written, upon it ; and yet it is 
no better understood than it ought to be. Few give themselves 
the trouble of thinking much on the things which they think they 
understand ; and many would rather follow the thoughts of others 
than think for themselves. Suspense is painful, much study is a 
weariness of the flesh; and, therefore, the majority are content 
with the views and opinions handed to them from those who have 
gone before. 

We wish to treat this subject as if it were a new one ; and to 
examine it now as if we had never examined it before. It is 
worthy of it. Generation is full of wonders, for it is full of God^s 
physical grandeur ; yet regeneration is still more admirable, for 
in it the moral attributes of Jehovah are displayed. But we aim 
not at a development of its wonders, but at a plain, common-sense, 
scriptural exposition of its import. 

AVe have not learned our theology from Athanasius, nor our 
morality from Seneca ; and, therefore, we shall not call upon them 
for illustration, argument, or proof. To the Sacred Records, in 
which alone Christianity yet remains in all its freshness, we look 
for light ; and thither would we direct the eyes of our readers. It 
is not the regeneration of the schools — in which Christianity has 
been lowered, misapprehended, obscured, and adulterated — of 
which we are to write ; but that regeneration of which Jesus 
spoke, and the Apostles wrote. 

A few things must be premised — a few general views expressed 
— before we, or our readers, are prepared for the more minute 
details: and, to approach the subject with all unceremonious 
despatch, we observe, that — 

Man unregenerate is ruined in body, soul, and spirit ; a frail 
and mortal creature. From Adam his father he inherits a shat- 



252 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 

tered constitution. He is the child of a fallen progenitor, a scion 
from a degenerate stock. 

Superior to Adam, the exile from Eden, in physical, intellectual, 
and moral nature, none of his descendants can rise. It is not in 
nature to improve itself; for above its fountain the stream cannot 
rise. Cain, the first-born of Eve, was in nature the image and 
likeness of him that begat him. Education failed to improve him 
while Abel, his younger brother, obtained the excellency which 
faith in God's promise alone bestows. The first-born, it will b<? 
conceded, was at least equal to his younger brother ; and who can 
plead that in nature he excels Eve's eldest son ? 

Man in his ruins is, however, a proper subject of a remedial 
system. He is susceptible of renovation. Therefore God has 
placed him under a regenerating economy. This economy con- 
templates the regeneration of the whole human constitution, and 
proposes as its consummation the transformation of spirit, soul, 
and body. The destiny of the regenerate is described by Paul in 
one sentence : — "As we now bear the image of the earthly Adam, 
we shall then bear the image of the heavenly Adam.^^ 

God's own Son is proposed as a model. Conformity to him in 
glory, honor, and immortality, as the perfection of the regenerate, 
is the predestination of him who speaks of things that are not, as 
though they were. 

Regeneration is, therefore, moral and physical : or, in other 
words, there is now a renovation of the mind — of the understand- 
ing, will, and affections — and there will hereafter be a renovation 
of the body: — "For this corruptible body shall put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal body shall put on immortality." 

The renovation of the mind and character is, therefore, that 
moral regeneration which is to be effected in this life ; for which 
the remedial system, or kingdom of heaven, was set up on earth ; 
and this, therefore, first of all, demands our attention. 

Before we attempt an answer in detail to the question, How is 
this moral regeneraiion effected f we shall attend to the principle 
on which the whole remedial system proceeds. The grand prin- 
ciple, or means which God has adopted for the accomplishment 
of this moral regeneration, is the full demonstration and proof of , 
a single proposition addressed to the reason of man. This sublime 
proposition is, that God is love. 

The reason and wisdom of this procedure will suggest itself 
to every one who can understand the views and feelings of all 
unregenerated men Man, in a state of alienation and rebellion, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 253 

naturally suspects, th&t if he be a sinner, and if God hate sin, he 
must hate him. As love begets love, so hatred begets hatred; 
and if a sinner suspects that God hates him, he cannot love God. 
He must know that God loves him, before he can begin to love 
God. "We,'' says an Apostle, *'love God because he first loved 
us." While alienated in heart, through the native darkness of 
his understanding, the sinner misinterprets every restraint vrhich 
God has placed in his way to prevent his total ruin as indica- 
tions of the wrath of Heaven. His transgression of these re- 
straints, and his consciousness of having defied the veracity and 
power of God, only increase his enmity, and urge him onward to 
his apostasy and wanderings from his Creator. The goodness of 
God, being misunderstood, furnishes to him no incentive to re- 
pentance and reformation. Guilt, and fear, and shame, the fruits 
of his apostasy, becloud his understanding, and veil from his eyes 
all the demonstrations of benevolence and goodness with which 
the creation abounds. Adam, under a tree, hiding from God, 
trembling with fear, suspicious of the movements of every leaf, 
and covered with shame as with a garment, is both an illustra- 
tion and proof of these views of the state of mind which obtains 
in the unregenerate. 

Neither the volume of creation, nor that of God's providence, 
is sufficient to remove from the natural man these misconceptions 
and the consequent alienation of heart. The best proof that these 
two volumes cannot do this is, that they never have, in any one 
instance, yet done it. From the nature of things it is indeed evi- 
dent that they cannot do it. The elements are too often at war 
with the happiness of man. The ever-changing attitude of the 
natural world, in reference to health, and life, and comfort, render 
it at best doubtful whether the laws of nature, which ultimately 
bring man down to the grave, are the efiect of benevolence or of 
malevolence towards mankind. A third volume explanatory of 
both, and replete also with supernatural developments, is want- 
ing, to furnish the most diligent student of nature and providence 
with the means of learning the true and full character of him 
against whom we have rebelled. 

That volume is the Bible. Holy Prophets and Apostles spake 
as they were moved by the Spirit of Knowledge and Revelation. 
Its records, its history, its prophecy, its precepts, its laws, its 
ordinances, and its examples, all develop and reveal God to man 
and man tc himself. 



254 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

But it is in the person and mission of the Incarnate Wor£ 
that we learn that God is love. That God gave his Son for us, 
and yet gives his Spirit to us — and thus gives us himself — are the 
mysterious and transcendent proofs of the most august proposi- 
tion in the universe. The gospel, Heaven's wisdom and power 
combined, God's own expedient for the renovation of human na- 
ture, is neither more nor less than the illustration and proof of 
this regenerating proposition. 

Thus we hasten to our subject. Having glanced at the great 
landmarks of the plantations of nature and grace, now that we 
may, in the light of truth, ascertain the true and heaven-taught 
doctrine of regeneration, we shall cautiously survey the whole 
process, as developed by the commissioned teachers of the deep 
counsels of the only true God. 

That certain things, parts of this great progress, may be well 
understood, certain terms, which we are wont to use to represent 
them, must be well defined, and accurately apprehended. These 
terms are Fact, Testimony, Faith, Repentance, Reformation, Bath 
of Regeneration, New Birth, Renewing of the Holy Spirit, Newness 
ofLife."^ 

"All things are of God'' in the regeneration of man, is our 
motto; because our Apostle affirmed this as a cardinal truth. 
He is the author of ih.2i facts and of the testimony which declares 
them; and, being the author of these, he is the author of all the 
efi'ects produced by these facts. The Christian is a new creation^ 
of which God is the Creator. The change of heart and of cha- 
racter, which constitutes moral regeneration, is the legitimate 
impression of the facts or things which God has wrought. The 
facts constitute the moral seal which stamps the image of God 
upon man. In the natural order, we must place them first, and, 
therefore, we must first define the term 



REPENTANCE. 

Eepentance is usually defined " sorrow for any thing that is 
pasty^ and in the religious vocabulary it is simply ^^ sorrow for 
sin.'' This is one, but it is only one, of the natural efiects of the 
belief of the testimony of God. The gospel facts, testimony, and 
faith, contemplate more than this. But yet it is necessary that 
this point of faith should be distinctly apprehended, especially .n 

* For Fact. Testimony, and Faith, see pp. 110-113. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 255 

this age, when it occupies so large a space in the systems of 
theology. 

Repentance, in our current acceptation, is sorrow for sin ; and 
certainly there is no man who believes the revealed facts found 
in the testimony of God, who will not be sorry for his sins. But 
simple sorrow for the past is but a feeling of the heart ; which, 
unless it excite to reformation or the abandonment of sin, is of no 
more use than the regrets of Judas after he had sold his Master 
for fifteen dollars. Repentance must, however, precede reforma- 
tion; for unless we are sorry for the past, and grieved with our- 
selves, we will not think of a change of conduct. Repentance is 
to reformation what motive is to action, or resolution to any un- 
dertaking. It was well for David to resolve to build the temple ; 
and so it is well to form any good design ; but much better to 
execute it. To feel sorry for the poor and the afflicted, and to 
resolve to assist and comfort them, is well ; but to go and do it is 
better ; and, indeed, unless our sorrow for the past terminate in 
reformation for the future, it is useless in the estimation of hea- 
ven and earth; as useless as to say to the hungry. Be filled; or to 
the naked. Be clothed. 

Genuine repentance does not always issue in reformation. 
Judas was sorrowful even to death, but could not reform. Many 
have been so genuinely sorry for their sins as to become suicides. 
Speak we of "a godly sorrow^' ? No : this is not to be expected 
from unconverted and ungodly persons. Christians, Paul teaches, 
when they err, may repent with a godly sorrow; but this is not to 
be expected from the unregenerate, or from those who have not 
reformed. It is not, then, the genuineness of repentance that is 
to be appreciated, unless by genuine repentance is meant more 
than simple sorrow for the past — unless by genuine repentance is 
meant reformation. Yet without sincere or unfeigned repentance, 
there cannot be real or genuine reformation. 

This leads us to observe, that the only unequivocal evidence of 
sincere repentance is the actual redress of the injury done; not 
only a cessation from the sin, but a restitution for the sin, as far 
as restitution can possibly be made. N'o restitution, no repentance 
—provided restitution can he made. And I may be permitted to 
add, tJiat without repentance and restitution, when possible, there 
can he no remission. 

The preachers of repentance — of the necessity of repentance in 
order to remission — ought to set this matter fairly and fully be- 
fore sinners. Do they represent repentance as sorrow for the 



£56 THE CHUISTIAN SYSTEM. 

past, and a determination to reform? How, then, will the shiner 
know that he is sorry for his sins against men, or how will the 
community know that he has repented of such sins, unless full 
restitution was made? It is impossible that either the sinner 
himself, or the community who know his sins against man, can 
have any certain evidence that he is penitent, unless by making 
all possible restitution. 

Peccator wounded the reputation of his neighbor Hermaa, and 
on another occasion defrauded him of ten pounds. Some of the 
neighborhood were apprized that he had done both. Peccator 
was converted under the preaching of Paulinus, and, on giving 
in a relation of his sorrow for his sins, spoke of the depth of his 
convictions, and of his abhorrence of his transgressions. He was 
received into the congregation, and sat down with the faithful to 
commemorate the great sin-offering. Hermas and his neighbors 
were witnesses of all this. They saw that Peccator was peni- 
tent, and much reformed in his behavior; but they could not 
believe him sincere, because he had made no restitution. They 
regarded him either as a hypocrite or self-deceived; because, 
having it in his power, he repaid not the ten pounds, nor once 
contradicted the slanders he had propagated. Peccator, however, 
felt little enjoyment in his profession, and soon fell back into his 
former habits. He became again penitent, and, on examining the 
grounds of his falling off, discovered that he had never cordially 
turned away from his sins. Overwhelmed in sorrow for the past, 
he resolved on giving himself up to the Lord; and, reflecting on 
his past life, set about the work of reformation in earnest. He 
called on Hermas, paid him his ten pounds, and the interest for 
every day he had kept it back, went to all the persons to whom 
he had slandered him, told them what injustice he had done him, 
and begged them, if they had told it to any other persons, to con- 
tradict it. Several other persons whom he had wronged in his 
dealings with them he also visited ; and fully redressed all these 
wrongs against his neighbors. He also confessed them to the 
Lord, and asked him to forgive him. Peccator was then restored 
to the church ; and, better still, he enjoyed a peace of mind, and 
a confidence in God, which was a continual feast. His example, 
moreover, did more to enlarge the congregation at the Cross-roads 
than did the preaching of Paulinus in a whole year. This was, 
unequivocally, sincere repentance. 

This is the repentance which Moses preached, and which Jesus 
approbated. Under the law, confession to the priest, and the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 257 

presenting of a trespass-offering, availed nothi,ig to forgiveness 
without restitution. But the law went into details still more 
minute than these ; for provision is made for the case in which 
the sinner could not find the person against whom he had sinned. 
In such a case, the penitent sinner was to seek out the kindred of 
the injured party, and if he could find any kinsman he was to 
recompense this kinsman ; but if he could not find a kinsman, he 
must recompense it to the Lord, besides offering his trespass- 
offering. It was to go into the Lord's treasury."^ The principle 
uniformly, in all cases of sin against man, was, the sinner "shall 
make amends for the harm he has done, and shall add the fifth 
part thereto.'^t 

If any one suppose that repentance is to be less sincere or un- 
equivocal under the gospel, let him remember that Zaccheus pro- 
posed more than adding a fifth; he would restore fourfold; and 
that Jesus approbated him for so doing. Indeed, John the Im- 
merser demanded fruits worthy of repentance or of reformation, 
and Paul proclaimed that those who turned to God should do 
works meet for, or worthy of, repentance. J 

"Works worthy of repentance'' is a phrase which can be un- 
derstood in no other sense than those works which make amends 
for the harm done to men and the dishonor done to God, as far as 
both are possible. Can any man think that he is sorry for that 
sin or wrong which he has done, when he makes no effort to 
make amends to him who was injured in person, character, or 
property, by it ? Works worthy of his professed repentance are 
wanting, so long as any being whom he has injured in person, 
property, or reputation, is unredressed to the utmost extent of 
his ability. 

One of our most popular commentators says — and with much 
truth — "No man should expect mercy at the hand of God, who, 
having wronged his neighbor, refuses, when he has it in his power, 
to make restitution. Were he to weep tears of blood, both the 
justice and mercy of God would shut out his prayer, if he make 
not his neighbor amends for the injury he has done him. He is 
a dishonest man who illegally holds the property of another in 
his hands. "2 

Every preacher of repentance should insist upon these evi- 
dences of sincerity, both for the satisfaction of the penitent him- 
Belf, and for the good of the community. " Many that believed 

* Num. V. 7, 8. t Lev. v. 16. % Acts xxvi. 20. § Adam Clarke on Gen. xi. 2. 

22* 



258 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

came and confessed, and showed their deeds; many of them, also, 
who used curious arts, bringing their books together, burnt them 
before all ; and they computed the value of them, and found it 
fifty thousand pieces of silver.''^'^ This was making restitution, 
in their case, as far as possible ; and the principle here evinced is 
applicable in every other case. 

But, in pursuing this subject so far, we have passed over the 
boundaries of repentance, and sometimes confounded it with 
reformation. This is owing to the licentious use of language, to 
which modern theology has so richly contributed. "We shall, 
however, redress this wrong, as far as practicable, by a few 
remarks on 

REFORMATION. 

The word metanoia, used by the sacred writers and heaven- 
taught preachers of the New Economy, as indicative of the first 
efi'ect of faith, as has been often shown, is different from that 
which our word repentance fitly represents. It literally imports 
a change of mind; but, as Parkhurst, Campbell, and many others 
say, ''such a change of mind as infiuences one's subsequent be" 
havior for the better.-^^ " It has been observed by some, and, I 
think, with reason, that the former {meianoea) denotes properly a 
change to the better : the latter [metamelGmai) barely a change, 
whether to the better or to the worse ; that the former marks a 
change of mind that is durable, and produces consequences ; the 
latter expresses only a present uneasy feeling of regret, without 
regard to duration or effects : in fine, that the first may be trans- 
lated into English 7 re/brm ; the second, I repent, in the familiar 
acceptation of the words. Now, as every one who reforms repents, 
but as every one who repents does not reform, this distinction is 
necessary and proper ; and there is nothing hazarded, nothing lost, 
by translating the former, I reform, and the I^Hqt, I repent. There 
i« something gained, especially in all places where we have the 
word in the imperative mood, because then it is of importance to 
know precisely what is intended. If we are commanded only tc 
change our mind, or to be sorry for the past, we have obeyed 
when we feel regret; but if more than mere change of mind or 
regret is intended, we have not obeyed the commandment, until 
we change for the better. Now, it is, we think, very evident from 

* Acts xix. 18-20. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 259 

various passages of the sacred writings of the Apostles, and from 
their speeches, that they commanded more than a simple change 
of mind as respected past conduct, or mere sorrow for the past. 
Peter commanded the thousands assembled on the day of Pente- 
cost, who had changed their minds, and who were sorry for the 
past, to do something which they had not yet done; and that 
something is in the common version rendered rejpent; and in the 
new version, reform ; and in the old English Bible, amend your 
lives. The word here used is the imperative of metanoeo. Judas 
repented, and many like him, who never reformed; and, there- 
fore, it is of importance that this distinction should be kept in 
view."^ 

Kepentance is not reformation, but it is necessary to it ; for 
whoever reforms must first repent. Eeformation is, indeed, the 
carrying out of the purpose into our conduct. But, as reforma- 
tion belongs rather to another part of our essay than the present, 
we shall, on the premises already before us, pause and offer a few 
reflections. 

In the preceding definitions of words and ideas, it would appear 
that w^e have a literal and unfigurative representation of the whole 
process of what is figuratively called regeneration. For, as we 
shall soon see, the term regeneration is a figure of speech which 
very appropriately, though analogically, represents the reforma- 
tion or renovation of life of which we have now spoken. 

That the preceding arrangement is not arbitrary, but natural 
and necessary, the reader w^ill perceive, when he reflects, that the 
thing done, or the fact, must precede the report or testimony con- 
cerning it ; that the testimony concerning it must precede the 
belief of it ; that belief of the testimony must precede any feeling 
in correspondence with the fact testified ; and that feeling must 
precede action in conformity to it. Fact, testimony, faith, feeling, 
action, are therefore bound together by a natural and gracious 
necessity, which no ingenuity can separate. And will not every 
Christian say, that when a person feels and acts according to the 
faith, or the testimony of God, he is a new creature — regenerate — 
truly converted to God ? He that believes the facts testified in 
the record of God understands them, feels according to their 
nature and meaning, and acts in (correspondence with them — has 
undergone a change of heart and of life which makes him a new 
man. 

* See Family Testament, Note 30, page 74. 



260 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

This is that moral change of heart and life which is figuratively 
called regeneration. We are not to suppose that regeneration is 
something which must be added to the faith, the feeling, and the 
action or behavior, which are the efiects of the testimony of God 
understood and embraced ; or which are the impress of the divine 
facts attested by Prophets and Apostles. It is only another name 
for the same process in all its parts. 

It may also be observed, that numerous figures and analogies 
are used by the inspired writers to set forth this change, as well 
as other leading truths and lessons in the Bible. In their col- 
lective capacity, Christians are called a kingdom, a nation, a 
generation, a family, a house, a flock, a city, a temple, a priest- 
hood, &c. In their individual capacity, they are called kings, 
priests, soldiers, citizens, children, sheep, branches, stones, &c. 
They are said to be begotten, born, regenerated, builded, engraft- 
ed, converted, created, planted. Now, under whatever figure 
they are considered or introduced, reason argues that every thing 
said of them should be expressed in conformity with the figure 
under which they are presented. Are they called slieepf — then he 
that presides over them is called a Shepherd; their enemies are 
wolves and dogs; their sustenance is the green pasture ; their place 
of safety and repose, the sheepfold; their errors are wanderings 
and strayings; their conversion, a return; and their good beha- 
vior a hearing of the voice, or a follounng, of the Shepherd. Are 
they called children? — then collectively they are a family; they 
are hegotten and horn again; God is their Father; their separation 
is an adoption; Jesus is their elder brother; they are heirs of God; 
they live and walk with God. Are they priests f — Jesus is their 
High-Priest ; the church, their temple; the Saviour is their altar; 
their songs, their praises, are incense ascending to heaven ; and 
their oblations to the poor, their works of love, are sacrifices most 
acceptable to God. Are they called citizens? — the church is then 
the kingdom of heaven; Jerusalem is the mother of them all; for- 
merly they were aliens, and their naturalization is regeneration. 
Are they called branches? — then Jesus is the true vine; his Father 
the vine-dresser ; their union with Christ, an engrafting; the dis- 
cipline of the gospel, ^ pruning ; and their good works are fruits 
cf righteousness. 

Thus there is no confusion of metaphors in the Scriptures of 
truth — in the dialect of Heaven. It is the language of Ashdod, 
it belongs to the confusion of Babel, to mingle and confound all 
figures and analogies. Hence we so often hear of being horn 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 261 

a^ain, without any allusion to a family or a kingdom ! and of 
regeneration as antecedent to faith or repentance ! Had a modern 
assembly of divines been employed to accommodate the scripture 
style to their orthodox sentiments, we should not have had to read 
all the Old Testament and all the historic books of the New, to 
find the subject of regeneration but once proposed to an alien, as 
the fact is ; but then we should have found it in the history of 
Abel, of Enoch, of Noah, and of Abraham, if not in every section 
of the law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms. John 
the Baptist, Jesus, and the Holy Twelve, would have had it in 
every sermon ; and true faith would have been always defined as 
the fruit of regeneration. 

But Jesus had a kingdom in his eye and in his discourse, before 
he ever mentioned being "born again'' to Nicodemus; for unless 
there was a family, a state, or a kingdom to be born into, it is 
impossible for any one to be born into it. And if the kingdom 
of heaven only began to be after Jesus entered into heaven ; or if 
it was only approaching from the ministry of John to the day of 
Pentecost, then it would have been preposterous indeed — an in- 
congruity of which no inspired man was ever guilty — to call any 
change of heart or life a regeneration, or a new birth. It is true 
that good men in all ages were made such by facts, testimony, 
faith, and feeling, by a change of heart, by the Spirit of God ; 
but the analogy, or figure of being horn, or of being regenerated, 
only began to be preached, when the kingdom of heaven began 
to be preached and men began to press into it. 

We are now, perhaps, better prepared to consider the proper 
import and meaning of '^regeneration''^ in general, and of ^'ihe 
hath of regeneration^^ in particular. 

REGENERATION. 

This word is found but twice in all the oracles of God — once 
in Matthew xix. 28, and once in Titus iii. 5. In the former it is 
almost universally understood to mean a new state of things, not 
of persons — a peculiar era, in which all things are to be made 
new: — such as the formation of a new church on the day of Pen- 
tecost, or the commencement of the Millennium, or the general 
resurrection. The biblical critics of eminence have assigned it 
to one or other of these great changes in the state of things. So 
we use the word revolution, and the phrase tlie Revolution, to ex- 
press a change in the political state of things. The most approved 



262 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

punctuation and version of this passage renders it altogether evi- 
dent that a new era is alluded to. " Jesus answered, Indeed, I 
say unto you, that at the renovation [regeneration] when the Son 
of Man shall be seated on his glorious throne, you, my followers, 
sitting also upon twelve thrones, shall judge the twelve tribes of 
Israel/^ This being so evident, and so often alluded to in our 
former writings, we shall proceed to the remaining occurrence, 
Titus iii. 5. 

All the new light which we propose to throw on this passage 
will be gathered from an examination of the acceptation of the 
word generation in the sacred writings* Our reason for this is, 
that we object to a peremptory decision of the meaning of a word 
which occurs only in the passage under discussion, from our rea- 
sonings upon the isolated passages in which it is found. In such 
a case, if we cannot find the whole word in any parallel passages, 
the proper substitute is the root or branches of that word, so far 
as they are employed by the same writers. Moreover, we think 
it will be granted, that, whatever may be the scriptural accepta- 
tion of the word generation, regeneration is only the repetition 
of that act or process. 

After a close examination of the passages in which generation 
occurs in the writings of the Hebrew Prophets and Apostles, we 
find it used only in two acceptations — as descriptive of the whole 
process of creation and of the thing created. A race of men, or 
a particular class of men, is called a generation; but this is its 
figurative rather than its literal meaning. Its literal meaning is 
the formation or creation of any thing. Thus it is first used in 
the Holy Scriptures. Moses calls the creation, or whole process 
of formation of the heavens and the earth, "The generations of 
the heavens and the earth.^'^ The account of the formation of 
Adam and Eve, and also the account of the creations of Adam 
and Eve, are, by the same writer, called " The book or record of 
the generations of Adam.'^f This is the literal import of the 
word ; consequently, regeneration literally indicates the whole 
process of renovating or new-creating man. 

This process may consist of numerous distinct acts ; but it is 
in accordance with general usage to give to the beginning or con- 
summating act the name of the whole process. For the most part, 
however, the name of the whole process is given to the consum- 
mating act, because the process is always supposed incomplete 

* Genesis ii. 4. ■{- Genesis v. 1. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 263 

until that act is performed. For example : In the process of tan- 
ning, falling, forging, &c. the subject of these operations is not 
supposed to be tanned, fulled, forged, until the last act is per- 
formed. So in all the processes of nature — in the anim.al, vegeta- 
ble, and mineral kingdoms — the last act consummates the process. 
To all acquainted with the process of animalization, germination, 
crystallization, &c. no further argument is needed. But in the 
style of our American husbandmen, no crop or animal is made, 
until it come to maturity. We often hear them say of a good 
shower, or of a few clear days, " This is the making of the wheat 
or corn.^' In the same sense it is, that most Christians call re- 
generation the NEW BIRTH ; though heing horn is only the last act 
in natural generation, and the last act in regeneration. 

In this way the new birth and regeneration are used indiscrimi- 
nately by commentators and writers on theology, and, by a figure 
of speech, it is justified on well-established principles of rhetoric. 
This leads us to speak particularly of 

THE BATH OF REGENERATION. 

By " the hath of regeneration^' is not meant the first, second, or 
third act ; but the last act of regeneration, which completes the 
whole, and is, therefore, used to denote the new birth. This is 
the reason why our Lord and his Apostles unite this act with 
water. Being lorn of water, in the Saviour's style, and the hath of 
regeneration, in the Apostles' style, in the judgment of all writers 
and critics of eminence, refer to one and the same act, — viz. : 
Christian baptism. Hence it came to pass, that all 'the ancients 
(as fully proved in our first Extra on Remission) used the word 
regeneration as synonymous in signification with immersion. In 
addition to the numerous quotations made in our Essay on Remis- 
sion, from the creeds and liturgies of Protestant churches, we 
shall add another from the Common Prayer of the Church of 
England, showing unequivocally that the learned doctors of that 
church used the words regeneration and haptism as synonymous. 
In the address and prayer of the minister after the baptism of the 
child, he is commanded to say, — 

*' Seeing now, dearly-beloved brethren, that this child is rege- 
nerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's church, let us give 
thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits, and with one accord 
make our prayer unto him, that this child may lead the rest of 
his life according to this beginning." 



264 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

" Then shall he said, all kneeling, — 
" We yield thee hearty thanks, most mercifal Father, that it 
hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, 
to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate 
him into thy holy church. And humbly we beseech thee to grant 
that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and 
being buried with Christ in his death, may crucify the old man, 
and utterly abolish the whole body of sin ; and that as he is made 
partaker of the death of thy Son, he may also be partaker of his 
resurrection ; so that finally, with the residue of thy holy church, 
he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting kingdom, through 
Christ our Lord. Amen.'' 

Eusebius, in his life of Constantino, pa,ge 628, shows' that St. 
Cyprian, St, Athanasius, and, indeed, all the Greek Fathers, did 
regard baptism as the consummating act ; and therefore they call 
it teliosis, the consummation. These authorities weigh nothing 
with us ; but, as they weigh with our opponents, we think it ex- 
pedient to remind them on which side the Fathers depose in the 
case before us. By these quotations we would prove no more 
than that the ancients understood the washing of regeneration, and 
indeed used the term regeneration, as synonymous with baptism. 
But were we asked for the precise import of the phrase wash- 
ing or hath of regeneration, either on philological principles, or 
as explained by the Apostles, we would give it as our judgment, 
that the phrase is a circumlo<?ution or periphrasis for water. It is 
loutron, a word which more properly signifies the vessel that con- 
tains the water, than the water itself; and is, therefore, by the 
most learned critics and translators, rendered hath, as indicative 
either of the vessel containing the fluid, or of the use made of 
the fluid in the vessel. It is, therefore, by a metonymy, the 
water of baptism, or the water in which we are regenerated. Paul 
was a Hebrew, and spoke in the Hebrew style. We must learn 
that style before we fully understand the Apostle's style. In 
other words, we must studiously read the Old Testament before 
we can accurately understand the New. What more natural for 
a Jew accustomed to speak of "the water of purification," of 
** the water of separation,"'^ to speak of " the bath of regenera- 
tion"? If the phrase '* water of purification" meant water used 
for the purpose of purifying a person — if *' the water of separa- 
tion" meant water used for separating a person — what more 

* See Numbers Tiii. 7 ; xix. 9, 13, 20, 21 ; xxxi. 23. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 265 

natural than that " the bath of regeneration" should mean water 
used for regenerating a person ? 

But the New Testament itself confirms this exposition of the 
phrase. We find the word loutron once more used by the same 
Apostle, in the same connection of thought. In his letter to the 
Ephesians, he affirms that Jesus has sanctified (separated, puri- 
fied with the water of purification) the church by a loutron of 
water — *' a bath of water, with the word," — " having cleansed it 
by a bath of water, with the word."* This is still more decisive. 
The king's translators, so fully aware that the sense of this passage 
agrees with Titus iii. 5, have, in both places, used the word 
washing, and Macknight the term bath, as the import of loutron. 
What is .called the loashing or hath of regeneration, in the one pas- 
sage, is, in the other, called "the washing" or "bath of water." 
What is called saved in one is called cleansed in the other ; and 
what is called the renewal of the Holy Spirit in the one is called the 
word in the other; because the Holy Spirit consecrates or cleanses 
through the word. For thus prayed the Messiah, " Consecrate 
them through the truth: thy word is the truth." And again, 
" You are clean through the word that I have spoken to you." 

To the same effect, Paul, to the Hebrew Christians, says, 
" Having your hearts sprinkled from a guilty conscience, and your 
bodies washed with pure water" — the water of purification, the 
water of regeneration : (for the phrase " pure water" must be un- 
derstood, not of the quality of the water, but metonymically of 
the effect, the cleansing, the washing, or the purifying of the 
person,) — "having your bodies or persons washed with pure 
water," or water that purifies or cleanses. 

No one, acquainted with Peter's style, will think it strange 
that Paul represents persons as saved, cleansed, or saiictified by 
water; seeing Peter unequivocally asserts that "we are saved" 
through water, or through baptism, as was Noah and his family 
through water and faith in God's promise. " The antitype im- 
mersion does also now save us." 

Finally, our great Prophet, the Messiah, gives to water the 
same place and power in the work of regeneration. For when 
speaking of being horn again — when explaining to Nicodemus 
the new birth, he says, "Except a man be boim of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." May not we, 
then, supported by such high authorities, call that water of which 
a person is born again, the water or bath of regeneration ? 

Ephesians v. 26. 
23 



266 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



NEW BIRTH. 

We have already seen that the consummation of the process of 
generation or creation is in the birth of the creature formed. So 
it is in the moral generation, or in the great process of regenera- 
tion. There is a state of existence from which he that is born 
passes ; and there is a state of existence into which he enters after 
birth. This is true of the whole animal creation, whether ovipa- 
rous or viviparous. Now the manner of existence, or the mode 
of life, is wholly changed ; and he is, in reference to the former 
state, dead, and to the new state, alive. So in moral regeneration. 
The subject of this great change, before his new birth, existed in 
one state ; but after it he exists in another. He stands in a new 
relation to God, angels, and men. He is now born of God, and 
has the privilege of being a son of God, and is consequently 
pardoned, justified, sanctified, adopted, saved. The state which 
he left was a state of condemnation, what some call " the state of 
nature.^' The state into which he enters is a state of favor, in 
which he enjoys all the heavenly blessings through Christ : there- 
fore, it is called "the kingdom of heaven.'^ All this is signified 
in his death, burial, and resurrection with Christ ; or in his being 
born of water. Hence the necessity of being buried with Christ 
in water, that he may be born of water, that he may enjoy the 
renewal of the Holy Spirit, and be placed under* the reign of 
favor. 

All the means of salvation are means of enjoyment, not of pro- 
curement. Birth itself is not for procuring, but for enjoying, the 
life possessed before birth. So in the analogy : — no one is to be 
baptized, or to be buried with Christ ; no one is to be put under 
the water of regeneration for the purpose of procuring life, but 
for the purpose of enjoying the life of which he is possessed. If 
the child is never born, all its sensitive powers and faculties can- 
not be enjoyed ; for it is after birth that these are fully developed, 
and feasted upon all the aliments and objects of sense in nature. 
Hence all that is now promised in the gospel can only be enjoyed 
by those who are born again and placed in the kingdom of heaven 
under all its influences. Hence the philosophy of that necessity 
which Jesus preached : — *' Unless a man be born again, he cannot 
discern the kingdom of heaven,'^ — unless a man be born of water 
and the Spirit, he cannot enter into it. 

But let no man think that in the act of bein^ boruj either natu- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 267 

rally or metaphorically, the child purchases, procures, or merits 
either life or its enjoyments. He is only by his birth placed in 
circumstances favorable to the enjoyment of life, and all that 
makes life a blessing. " To as many as receive him, believing 
in his name, he grants the privilege of being children of God, 
who derive their birth not from blood, nor from the desire of the 
flesh, nor from the vrill of man, but from God." 

RENEWING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

" He has saved us,'^ says the Apostle Paul, " by the bath of re- 
generation and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured 
on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified 
by his favor, [in the bath of regeneration,] we might be made 
heirs according to the hope of eternal life.''' Thus, and not by 
works of righteousness, he has saved us. Consequently, being 
born of water and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are not works 
of merit or of righteousness, but only the means of enjoyment. 
But this pouring out of the influences, this renewing of the Holy 
Spirit, is as necessary as the bath of regeneration to the salvation 
of the soul, and to the enjoyment of the hope of heaven, of which 
the Apostle speaks. In the kingdom into which we are born of 
water, the Holy Spirit is as the atmosphere in the kingdom of 
nature ; we mean that the influences of the Holy Spirit are as 
necessary to the new life, as the atmosphere is to our animal life 
in the kingdom of nature. All that is done in us before regene- 
ration, God our Father effects by the word, or the gospel as dic- 
tated and confirmed by his Holy Spirit. But after we are thus 
begotten and born by the Spirit of God — after our new birth — the 
Holy Spirit is shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 
of which the peace of mind, the love, the joy, and the hope of the 
regenerate is full proof; for these are among the fruits of that 
Holy Spirit of promise of which we speak. Thus commences 

THE NEW LIFE. I 

Newness of life'' is a Hebraism for a new life. The new birth 
brings us into a new state. "Old things have passed away; all 
things have become new,'' says an Apostle : " for if any one be 
in Christ, he is a new creature." A new spirit, a new heart, and 
an outward character, corresponding to this change, are the effects 
of the regenerating process : " for the end of the charge," the 



268 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

grand result of the remedial system, is "love out of a pure heart, 
a good conscience, and faith unfeigned/^ " Love is the fulfilling 
of the whole law,'^ and the fruit of the whole gospel. It is the 
cardinal principle of all Christian behavior, the soul of the new 
man, the breath of the new life. Faith works by no other rule. 
It is a working principle, and love is the rule by which it ope- 
rates. The Spirit of God is the spirit of love and the health of 
a sound mind. Every pulsation of the new heart is the impulse 
of the spirit of love. Hence the brotherhood is beloved, and all 
mankind embraced in unbounded good-will. When the tongue 
speaks, the hands and the feet move and operate, under the unre- 
strained guidance of this principle, we have the Christian cha- 
racter drawn to the life. For meekness, humility, mercy, sym- 
pathy, and active benevolence, are only the names of the various 
workings of this all-renovating, invigorating, sanctifying, and 
happifying principle. " He that dwells in love dwells in God, 
and God in him.'' 

The Christian, or the new man, is then a philanthropist to the 
utmost extent of the meaning of that word. Truth and love have 
made him free from all the tyrannies of passion, from guilt and 
fear and shame ; have filled him with courage, active and passive. 
Therefore, his enterprise, his capital enterprise, to which all 
others minister, is to take part with the Saviour in the salvation 
of the world. "If by any means I may save some'' are not the 
words of Paul only, but of every new man. Are they merchants, 
mechanics, husbandmen? — are they magistrates, lawyers, judges, 
or unofficial citizens ? — are they masters, servants, fathers, sons, 
brothers, neighbors ? — whatever or wherever they may be, they 
live for God and his city, for the king and his empire. They 
associate not with the children of wrath — the miser, the selfish, 
the prodigal, the gay, the proud, the slanderer, the tattler, the 
rake, the libertine, the drunkard, the thief, the murderer. Every 
new man has left these precincts ; has broken his league with 
Satan and his slaves, and has joined himself to the family of 
God. These he complacently loves — those he pities — and does 
good to all. 

The character of the new man is an elevated character. Feel- 
ing himself a son and heir of God, he cultivates the temper, 
spirit, and behavior which correspond with so exalted a rela- 
tion. He despises every thing mean, grovelling, earthly, sensual, 
devilish. As the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God is 
to be the model of his future personal glory, so the character 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 269 

which Jesus sustained among men is the model of his daily 
imitation. His every-day aspiration is — 

Thy fair example will I trace, 

To teach me what I ought to be ; 
Make me, by thy transforming grace, 

Lord Jesus, daily more like thee." 

The law of God is hid in his heart. The living oracles dwell in 
his mind, and he grows in favor with God as he grows in the 
knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ his Lord. As a new- 
born babe he desires the unadulterated milk of the word of God, 
that he may grow by it ; for as the thirsty hart pants after the 
brooks of water, so pants his soul after God. Thus he lives to 
God, and walks with him. This is the character of the regene- 
rate — of him that is born of God — of the new man in Christ 
Jesus. This is that change of heart, of life, and of character, 
which is the tendency and the fruit of the process of regeneration, 
as taught and exemplified by the Apostles, and those commended 
by God,, in their writings. 

We now proceed to offer a few remarks on physical regenera- 
tion, the second part of our subject. 

PHYSICAL REGENERATION. 

ur mortal bodies are apt to feel the regenerating power of the 
Son of God. This is emphatically called ^'tlie glory of Ms poioerJ' 
" The redemption of the body^^ from the bondage of corruption 
is the consum.mation of the new-creating energy of him who has 
immortality. Life and incorruptibility were displayed in and by 
his resurrection from the dead. It was great to create man in the 
image of God — greater to redeem his soul from general corrup- 
tion ; but greatest of all to give to his mortal frame incorruptible 
and immortal vigor. The power displayed in the giving to the 
dead body of the Son of God incorruptible glory and endless life 
is set forth by the Apostle Paul as incomparably surpassing every 
other divine work within the reach of human knowledge. He 
prays that the minds of Christians may be enlarged to apprehend 
this mighty power — that the Father of glory would open their 
minds, "that they might know the exceeding greatness of his 
power in relation to us who believe — according to the working of 
his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised 
him from the deadiand set him at his cwn right hand in the 
heavenly places. '^ Faith in this wonderful operation of God — 



270 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

and hope for the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints? 
in light — are in the most powerful principles of action which 
God has ever planted in the human breast. This is the tran- 
scendent hope of the Christian calling, which imparted such heroic 
courage to all the saints of eternal renown. This better resurrec- 
tion in prospect has produced heroes which make cowards of all 
the boasted chiefs of worldly glory. As the magnetic needle ever 
points to the pole, so the mind, influenced by this hope, ever rises 
to the skies, and terminates in the fulness of joy, and the pleasures 
for evermore, in the presence and at the right hand of God. 

To raise a dead body to life again is not set forth as more 
glorious than by a touch to give new vigor to the palsied arm, to 
impart sight to the blind, or hearing to the deaf ; but to give that 
raised body the deathless vigor of incorruptibility, to renovate 
and transform it in all its parts, and to make every spirit feel that 
it reanimates its own body, that it is as insusceptible of decay, as 
immortal as the Father of eternity, is a thought overwhelming to 
every mind, a development which will glorify the power of God, 
as the sacrifice of his Son now displays his righteousness, faith- 
fulness, and love to the heavens and to the earth. 

This new birth from the dark prison of the grave is fitly styled 
*' the redemption of the body^^ from bondage, " the glorious liberty 
of the sons of God.^' As in our watery grave, the old man is 
figuratively buried to rise no more, so in the literal grave, the 
prison of the body, we leave all that is corrupt ; for he that makes 
all things new will raise us up in his own likeness, and present 
us before his Father^s face in all the glory of immortality. Then 
will regeneration be complete. Then will be the full revelation 
of the sons of God. 

Immortality, in the sacred writings, is never applied to the 
spirit of man. It is not the doctrine of Plato which the resur- 
rection of Jesus proposes. It is the immortality of the body of 
■which his resurrection is a proof and pledge. This was never 
developed till he became the first-born from the dead, and in a 
human body entered the heavens. Jesus was not a spirit when 
he returned to God. He is not made the Head of the New Creation 
as a Spirit, but as the Son of Man. Our nature in his person is 
glorified ; and when he appears to our salvation, we shall be made 
like him: we shall see him as he is. This is the Christian hope. 

"A hope so great and so divine 
May trials well endure, 
And purge the soul from sense and sio 
As Christ himself is pure." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 271 

Tbub nmtters stand in the economy of redemption. Thus the 
divine scheme of regeneration is consummated: the moral part, 
by the operation of moral means; the physical part, by the mighty 
power of God operating through physical means. By the word 
of his power he created the heavens and the earth ; by the word 
of his grace he reanimates the soul of man ; and by the word of 
his power he will again form our bodies anew, and reunite the 
gpirit and the body in the bonds of an incorruptible and ever- 
lasting union. Then shall death *' be swallowed up forever." — 
^^ Where noiu thy victory, toasting grave f^^ But for this we must 
wait. "We know not what we shall be." We only know, that 
when he appears, we shall be like him ; that we shall see him 
as he is. 



THE USE OF THE THEORY OE REGENERATION. 

One would imagine, from the voluminous arguments, debates, 
and sermons upon the theory of regeneration, that a sound theory 
was essential to salvation : that it must be preached in every ser- 
mon, in order to regenerate the hearers. Nothing can be more 
preposterous. Who can think that any theory of the resurrection 
or regeneration of the body can affect the body in the grave? As 
little can any theory affect the unregenerate, or those dead in 
trespasses and in sins, A sermon upon regeneration, or upon na- 
tural birth, would be as efficacious upon those unborn, in bringing 
them into this life, as a sermon upon moral or physical regenera- 
tion. This explains the fact, that in all the accounts of apostoli- 
cal preaching to Jew and Gentile — in all the extracts of their ser- 
mons and speeches found in the New Testament — the subject of 
regeneration is not once mentioned. It is, in all the historic books 
of the New Testament, but once propounded, but once named ; 
and that only in a private conference with a Jewish senator, on 
the affairs of Christ^s kingdom. No theory understood or believed 
by the unregenerate, no theory proposed to them for their accept- 
ance, can avail any thing to their regeneration. We might as 
reasonably deliver a theory of digestion to a dyspeptic, to cure 
his stomach — or a theory of vegetation to a scion, to hasten its 
growth — as to preach any view of regeneration to a sinner to 
make him a Christian. 

Of what use, then, are the previous remarks on this subject? 
I Avill first candidly inform the reader, that they were not written 



272 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

for his regeneration, either of mind or body; but for the benefit of 
those who are employed in the work of regenerating others, and 
for the conviction of such Christians as may have been induced 
to regard us as aiming at nothing but the mere immersion of 
persons, as alone necessary to the whole process of conversion or 
regeneration, in their acceptation of these words."^ The use of 
this theory, if it have any, is as a guide to those who are labor- 
ing publicly or privately for the regeneration of sinners. If we 
have assigned a proper place for facts, testimony, faith, feeling, 
action, the bath of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 
and a new life, the course is fairly marked out. They are to pre- 
sent the great facts, to declare the whole testimony of God to 
sinners, in order to their conversion or regeneration. Like Paul, 
in his account of his labors in Corinth, they must go out, not in 
the strength of human philosophy, ''hut declaring the testimony of 
God,^' and laying before their hearers " the wonderful works of 
God.^^ 

This is the use, and the only proper use, of sound theory on any 
subject. It is to guide the operator, not the thing operated upon. 
I would hope, under the Divine blessing, to be the means of 

* It may again be necessary, in this fastidious age, to remark, that in tbis essay, 
in order to disabuse the public mind on our use and acceptation of the term re.gene.- 
ration, we have taken the widest range which a supreme regard for the apostolic 
style could, in our judg^ment, allow. While we argue that the phrase hath of re- 
generation (Titus iii. 5) is equivalent to imviersion, as already explained, and as 
contradistinguished from the renewing of the Holy Spirit, of which the immersed 
believer is a proper subject; we have spoken of the whole process of renovation, 
not in the strict application of the phrase, Titus iii. 5, but rather in the whole lati- 
tude of the figure employed by the Apostle. It is not the first act of begetting, nor 
the last act of being born, but the whole process of conversion alluded to in the 
figure of generation, to which we have directed the attention of our readers. For, 
as often before stated, our opponents deceive themselves, and their hearers, by re- 
presenting us as ascribing to the word immersion, and the act of immersion, all that 
they caW regeneration. While, therefore, we contend that being "born again," and 
being immersed, are, in the Apostle's style, two names for the same action, we are 
far from supposing or teaching that, in forming the new man, there is nothing neces- 
sary but to be born. 

If any ask why this matter was not fully developed in our first essays on this sub- 
ject, our answer is, Because we could not anticipate that our opponents would have 
so represented or misrepresented our views. Were a general asked why he did not 
arrange all his troops in the beginning of the action as he had them arranged \\hen 
he triumphed over his enemy, he would reply, That the manoeuvres and assaults of 
tho enemy directed the disposition of his forces. 

Our opponents contend for a regeneration begun and perfected before faith or bap- 
tism — a spiritual change of mind by the Holy Spirit, antecedent to either knowledge, 
• faith, or repentance, of which infants are as susceptible as adults; and, therefore, as 
we contend, make the gospel of no effect. By way of reprisals, they would have their 
converts think that we go for nothing but water, and sarcastically call us the advo- 
cates of " water regeneration." They think there is something more sublime and 
divine in "spirit regeneration;" and therefore claim the title of orthodox. This 
calumny has been one occasion of the present essay, and it has occa.sioned that part 
of it which gives the fullest latitude to the term regeneration, which analogy gives to 
the figure used by the Apostle. But when we speak in the exact style of the living 
oracles on this subject, v^'e must represent being horn again (John iii. 5) and regcne- 
ration (Titus iii. 5) as relaliug to the act of immersion alone. See Extra Defended^ 
pp. 24-36. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 273 

regenerating more persons in one year, never once naming regene* 
ration, nor speculating upon the subject, by stating and enforcing 
the testimony of God, than by preaching daily the most approved 
theory of regeneration ever sanctioned by any sanhedrim on earth.^ 
"With these views, we have, then, offered the preceding remarks: 
and shall now briefly turn our attention to — 



THE REGENERATION OF THE CHURCH. 

The word regeneration we have found once used in the sense 
of a new state of things, or of the introduction of a new state of 
things.f In this application of the word, we would turn the 
attention of our readers to the necessity of the regeneration of 
the church. 

I speak not of the regeneration of any sectarian establishment. 
They are built upon another foundation — upon the foundation of 
decrees of councils, creeds, formularies, or acts of Parliament. 
But we speak of those societies that professedly build upon the 

* August 1. — I have just now opened the Cincinnati Baptist Journal of 26th July, 
from which I read an approved definition of regeneration. It is orthodox, spiritual, 
physical, mystical, and metaphysical regeneration. It is quoted from the "Standard." 
Regeneration, in the Evangelical Standard, is thus defined : — 

"Is the sinner active in regeneration? Certainly he is. His mind is a thinldng, 
rational principle, which never ceases to act; and. therefore, when the word passive 
is applied to it, by Old Divines, or by Calvinists, they do not mean that it is literally 
dead, like inert matter, which requires a physical impulse to put it in motion. 
They only mean to convey the scriptural idea.; that the Holy Spirit is the sole agent 
in regeneration, and that the sinner has no more efficient agency in accomplishing 
it, than Lazarus had in becoming alive from the dead. Still, they grant that his 
mind is most active, but unhappily its activity is all against the Divine influence ; 
as the Scriptures assure us, uuregenerated persons ' do always resist" the strivings 
of the Spirit. ' Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil 
continually.' 'There is none that doeth good ; no, not one.' The sinner, therefore, 
instead of voluntarily co-operating with the Holy Spirit, does all he can to resist his 
Divine influence, and prevent his own regeneration, until he is made willing by al- 
mighty power." 

What a comfortable thing is this theory of regeneration! The sinner is to be 
regenerated when actively striving against the Divine influence. At the moment 
of regeneration, " he has," in one sense, " no more efficient agency in accomplish- 
ing it than Lazarus had in becoming alive from the dead;" and in another sense, 
he is not passive, but " does all he can, to resist the Divine influence, and prevent 
his own regeneration, until he is made willing by almighty power." This is stand- 
ard divinity; and he that preaches this divinity is a pious, regenerated, Regular 
Orthodox Baptist Christian Minister! Of how much value, on this theory, is all the 
preaching in Christendom? The Holy Spirit may be busily at work upon some 
drunken sot, or some vile debauchee, who is as dead as Lazarus on one side, and 
on the other resisting the Spirit with all his moral and physical energj% up to the 
moment that the Almighty arm pierces him to the heart with a sword, and makes 
him alive by killing him! ! 

The absurdity and licentiousness of such a view of the great work of renovation 
we had thought so glaring that no editor in the West would have had l^oldness to 
have published it. This is a proof of the necessity of our present essay, and w ili 
explain to the intelligent reader why we have given to the whole process of renova- 
tion the name of regeneration, which properly belongs to the last act. 

t Matt. XIX. 28. 



274 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

founrlation of Apostles and Prophets, without any human bond 
of union, or rule of life — our brethren of the reformation, now in 
process. 

Should any one imagine that the state of things to which we 
have attained is the sole or ultimate object of our aspirations or 
our efforts, he would do us the greatest injury. Societies, indeed, 
may be found among us, far in advance of others, in their pro- 
gress towards the ancient order of things ; but we know of none 
that has fully attained to that model. It is, however, most ac- 
ceptable to see so many societies formed and forming, under the 
banners of reformation, with the determination to move onwards 
in conformity to the sacred oracles, till they stand perfect and 
complete in all the will of God. 

Our opponents cannot, or will not, understand how any society 
can be in progress to a better order of things than that under 
which they may have commenced their pilgrimage. Their sec- 
tarian policies were soon formed, and the limits of their reforma- 
tion were soon fixed; beyond which it soon became heretical to 
move. The founders of all new schisms not only saw through a 
glass darkly, but their horizon was so circuhiscribed with human 
traditions, that they only aimed at moving a few paces from the 
hive in which they were generated. A new creed was soon 
adopted, and then their stature was complete. They bounded 
from infancy to manhood in a few days, and decided, if any pre- 
sumed further to advance, they should be treated as those who 
had refused to move from the old hive. Hence it became as cen- 
surable to grow beyond a certain standard, as not to grow at all. 
This never was our proposition, and never can be our object. 
We have no new creed to form, no rules of discipline to adopt. 
We have taken the Living Oracles as our creed, our rules and 
measures of faith and practice ; and, in this department, have no 
additions, alterations, or amendments to propose. But in coming 
up to this standard of knowledge, faith, and behavior, we have 
something yet before us, to Avhich we have not atta,ined. 

That we may be distinctly understood on this subject, we shall 
speak particularly on the things wanting in our individual cha- 
racters, and of the things wanting in our church order, to give 
to our meetings that interest and influence which they ought to 
exert on the brotherhood and on society at large. 

It will be understood, that our remarks on the things which are 
wanting in the disciples are applicable not to every individual, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 275 

but to the general mass. And, first of all, there is wanting a more 
general and particular knowledge of the Holy Scriptures than is 
possessed by a great majority of the reformers. There is, per- 
haps, wanting a taste or disposition for that private devotional 
reading of the oracles of God, which is essential to a growth in 
that knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ which constitutes 
the most striking attributes in Christian character. We thus 
reason from the proficiency which is discoverable in the bounds 
of our acquaintance, which is large enough to afford data for very 
general conclusions. 

To read the Scriptures for the sake of carrying out into prac- 
tice all that we learn, and to read them for the sake of knowing 
what is written, are very different objects, and will produce very 
different results. Their influence on the temper and behavior, 
in the former case, will very soon become manifest to all with 
whom we associate ; while, in the latter case, there is no visible 
improvement. David said that he '* hid the word of God in his 
heart,^' or laid it up in his mind, " that he might not sin against 
God;^^ and that he had '*more understanding than all his teach- 
ers, because God^s testimonies were his meditation.^^ It will be 
admitted that the sacred writings of the Apostles and Evangelists 
of Jesus Christ ought to be as precious and as delightful to the 
Christian, as were the ancient oracles to the most pious Jew. 
Now, as an example of what we mean by a private devotional 
reading and study of the oracles of Christ, we shall permit a Jew 
to tell his experience : — 

*' The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold 
and silver. With my whole heart have I sought thee ; my soul 
breaketh for the longing that it has to thy judgments at all times. 
Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors. Teach me, 
Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I will keep it to the end. 
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law ; yes, I will 
observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy 
commandments, for in it do I delight. Thy statutes have been 
my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. At midnight I will rise 
to give thanks to thee, because of thy righteous judgments. Oh, 
how I love thy law ; it is my meditation all the day ! How sweet 
are thy words to my taste ; sweeter than honey to my mouth ! 
Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever, for they are 
the rejoicing of my heart. Great peace have they that love thy 
law — nothing shall cause them to stumble.'' 



276 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

These are only a few extracts from one piece, written by a king 
three thousand years ago. On another occasion he pronounced 
the following encomium on the testimony of God : — 

^' The law [doctrine] of the Lord is perfect, converting [restor- 
ing] the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the 
simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the 
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The 
fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the 
Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are 
they than gold — yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than 
honey, and the honey-comb. By them is thy servant warned, 
and in keeping of them there is great reward.'' 

This fully reveals all that we mean by a devotional private 
study of the Holy Scriptures. Every Christian who can read 
may every day thus refresh, s^v=^ngthen, and comfort his heart, 
by reading or committing to m^m<^ry, and afterwards reflecting 
upon, some portion of the book. He may carry in his pocket the 
blessed volume, and many a tim^ through the day take a peep 
into it. This will preserve him fr^m temptation, impart courage 
to his heart, give fluency to his tong-'it, c^Jad the graces of Chris- 
tianity to his life. 

In this age^ when ignorance of the 1 ^h^ist^an Scriptures is so 
characteristic, and the rage for human opinions and traditions so 
rampant, it is a duty doubly imperative oi. ou^ brethren, to give 
themselves much more to the study of the bouk ; and then one of 
them will put a host of the aliens to flight; and, \vhat is still more 
desirable, he will have communion with God all the da^ > and ever 
rejoice in his salvation. 

In the second place, there is wanting among disciples, who ^e 
heads of families, more attention, much more effort, to bring u^^^ 
their children *'in the correction and instruction of the Lord.'' 
The children of all disciples should be taught the oracles of God 
from the first dawning of reason. The good seed should be sown 
in their hearts, before the strong seeds of vice can take root. 
From a child Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures, and they were 
able to make him wise to salvation, through the Christian faith. 
How many more Timothies might we have, if we had a few more 
of the daughters of Lois, and a few more mothers like Eunice ! 
Most saints, in this generation, appear more zealous that their 
children should shine on earth, than in heaven — and that they 
may be rich here, at the hazard of eternal bankruptcy. They 
laboi to make them rich and genteel, rather than pure and holy; 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 277 

and spend more time in fashioning them to the foolish and wicked 
taste of polished society, than in teaching them by precept and 
example the word that is better than gold, and more precious than 
rubies. Well, they sow darnel, and cannot reap wheat. They 
may have a mournful harvest, and years of bitterness and sorrow 
may reward them for their negligence and error. If only a tithe 
of the time, and the labor and expense, that it costs to fit a son or 
a daughter to shine in the middle or front ranks of genteel society, 
were spent in teaching them to fear God and keep his command- 
ments, how many more virtuous, solid, and useful citizens — how 
many more valuable members of the family of God — how many 
more faithful and able witnesses for the truth of God — would be 
found in all corners of the land 1 

Every Christian family ought to be a nursery for God. Their 
offspring should be trained for the skies. For such are the pro- 
mises of God, such are the facts on record, and such is the expe- 
rience of Christians, that every parent who does his duty to his 
children may expect to see them inherit the blessing. Their 
didactic labors, aided by their example and their constant prayers, 
will seldom or never fail of success in influencing their descend- 
ants to walk in their ways. The very command to bring up their 
children in the Lord implies its practicability. And both Testa- 
ments furnish us with all assurance that such labors will not be 
in vain. The men of high renown in sacred history were gene- 
rally the sons of such parentage. The sons of God were found 
among the sons of Seth, while the daughters of men were of the 
progeny of Cain. Abraham was the descendant of Shem; Moses 
and Aaron were the sons of believing parents ; Samuel was the 
son of Hannah, and David was the son of Jesse. John the Har- 
binger was the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth ; and it pleased 
the heavenly Father that his son should be the child of a pious 
virgin. 

But it is under Christ that the faithful are furnished with all 
the necessary means of bringing up their offspring for the Lord. 
The numerous failures which we witness are to be traced either 
to great neglect, or to some fatal notion which paralyzes all effort ; 
for some think that the salvation or damnation of their offspring 
was a matter settled from all eternity, irrespective of any agency 
on their part: that some are born "vessels of wrath,'^ and others 
" vessels of mercy ;'^ and hence the instructions, examples, and 
prayers of parents are of no avail. Among the descendants of 
such, it will no doubt often happen that some become vessels of 



278 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

wrath, fitted for destruction, while others become vessels of mercy 
predestined to glory. 

When God gave a revelation to Jacob, and commanded a law 
to Israel, he gave it in charge that they should "teach it to their 
children, that they might put their trust in God, and might not be, 
like their fathers, a rebellious race.'' The Apostles of Christ 
have also taught the Christians the same lesson. This is our 
guide, and not our own reasonings. Now, let the disciples make 
this their business, morning, noon, and evening, and then we shall 
see its effects. 

"We are sorry to see this great duty, to which nature, reason, 
revelation alike direct, so much neglected by many of our brethren 
— to find among their children those who are no better acquainted 
with the Scriptures than the children of their neighbors, who 
believe in miraculous conversions, or think it a sin to attempt 
what they imagine to be the work of God alone — never suspect- 
ing that God works by human means, and employs human agency 
in his works of providence and redemption. 

I never knew but a very few families that made it their daily 
business to train up their children in the knowledge of the Holy 
Scriptures, to cause them every day to commit to memory a por- 
tion of the living oracles ; but these few instances authorize me 
to think, and to say, that such a course, persisted in and sustained 
by the good example of parents, will very generally, if not uni 
versally, issue in the salvation of their children. And before any 
one says, I have found an exception to the proverb of Solomon, 
which says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when 
he is old he will not depart from it,'' — let him show that his child 
was '^trained up in the way he should go,^^ 

In the third place, there is wanting, among the disciples, a 
stricter regard to relative duties : we mean, not only the duties 
which justice, truth, and moderation claim ; but aZZ relative duties. 
So long as Christians live after the manner of men in the 
flesh, according to the fashion of this world, they must, like 
other men, contract debts which they cannot promptly pay, make 
covenants and bargains, give promises which they cannot fulfil, 
and stake pledges which they are unable to redeem. All this is 
wholly incompatible with our profession. Such were not the 
primitive disciples. Skeptics of every name, men of the world, 
who have ever read the New Testament, know that such behavior 
is utterly incompatible with the letter and spirit of Christianity. 
A Christian's word or promise ought to be, and is, if Christ be 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 279 

honored, as solemn and obligatory as any bond. And as for breach 
of bargain or covenant, even where it is greatly or wholly to the 
disadvantage of the Christian, it is not even to be thought of— 
"he changes not, though to his hurt he covenants.^' How much 
has the gospel lost of its influence, because of the faithlessness 
of its professors ! Oh, when shall it be again said of Christians 
in general that " they bind themselves, as with a solemn oath, not 
to commit any kind of wickedness — to be guilty neither of theft, 
robbery, nor adultery — never to break a promise, or to keep back a 
deposite when called upon V Pliny writes to the Emperor Tra- 
jan that such was the character of Christians a. d. 106-7, as 
far as he could learn it from those who were not Christians. 
Were all the common (nowadays rather uncommon) virtues of 
justice, truth, fidelity, honesty, practised by all Christians, how 
many mouths would be stopped, and how many new arguments 
in favor of Jesus Christ could all parties find ! But, even were 
these common virtues as general as the Christian profession, 
there are the other finer virtues of benevolence, goodness, mercy, 
sympathy, which belong to the profession, expressed in taking 
care of the sick, the orphan, the widow — in alleviating all the 
afflictions of our fellow-creatures. Add these virtues, or graces, 
as we sometimes call them, to the others, and then how irresistible 
the argument for the divine authenticity of the gospel ! Let in- 
dustry, frugality, temperance, honesty, justice, truth, fidelity, 
humility, mercy, sympathy, appear conspicuous in the lives of the 
disciples, and the contrast between them and other professors 
will plead their cause more successfully than a hundred preachers. 

In the last place, there is wanting a more elevated piety to 
bring up the Christian character to the standard of primitive 
times. We want not fine speeches nor eloquent orations on the 
excellencies of Christian piety and devotion. These are generally 
acknowledged. But we need to be roused from our supineness, 
from our worldly-mindedness, from our sinful conformities to an 
apostate generation, to the exhibition of that holiness in speech, 
in behavior, without which no one shall see the Lord. What 
mean the numerous exhortations of the Apostles to watchfulness 
and prayer, if these are not essential to our devotion to God and 
consecration to his service ? 

If our afi'ections are not placed on things above, we are unfit 
for the kingdom of glory. To see the folly of a profession of 
Christianity without the power of godliness, we have only to put 
the question, How is that person fit for the enjoyment of Gud and 



280 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Christ, whose heart is filled with the cares, anxieties, and con- 
cerns of this life — whose whole life is a life of labor and care for 
the body — a life of devotion to the objects of time and sense? 
No man can serve God and Mammon. Where the treasure is, 
the heart must also be. Thither the affections turn their course. 
There is no room for the residence of the Spirit of God in a mind 
devoted to the affairs of this life. The spirit of the policies of 
this world, and the Spirit of God, cannot dwell in the same heart. 
If Jesus or his Apostles taught any one doctrine clearly, fully, 
and unequivocally, it is this doctrine: — that '^ the cares of this 
w^rld, the lusts of other things, and the deceitfulness of riches, 
stifle the word, and render it unfruitful.'^ 

If any one would enjoy the power of godliness, he must give 
up his whole soul to it. The business of this life will be per- 
formed religiously, as a duty subordinate to the will of God. 
While his hands are engaged in that business which his own 
wants or those of his household make necessary, his affections 
axe above. He delights in God, and communes with him all the 
day. A Christian is not one who is pious by fits and starts, who 
is religious or devout on one day of the week, or for one hour of 
the day. It is the whole bent of his soul — it is the beginning, 
middle, and end of every day. To make his calling and election 
sure is the business of his life. His mind rests only in God. 
He places the Lord always before him. This is his joy and his 
delight. He would not for the world have it otherwise. He 
would not enjoy eternal life, if he had it at his option, in any 
other way than that which God himself has proposed. He ac- 
cedes to God's arrangements, not of necessity, but of choice. 
His religious services are perfect freedom. He is free indeed. 
The Lord^s commandments are not grievous, but joyful. The 
yoke of Christ is to him easy, and his burden light. He will 
sing, with David, — 

" The love that to thy laws I hear 
No language can display ; 
They with fresh wonders entertain 
My ravish' d thoughts all day. 

" The law that from thy mouth proceeds, 
Of more esteem I hold 
Than untouch'd stores, than thousand mines 
Of silver and of gold. 

" Whilst in the way of thy commands, 
More solid joy I found 
Than had I been with vast increase 
Of envied riches crown'd. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 281 

"Thy testimonies I have kept, 
And constantly obey'd; 
Because the love I bore to them 
Thy service easy made." 

In the same ratio as Christians devoutly study the oracles of 
God, teach them to their children, practise all relative duties to 
society at large, and rise to a more elevated piety, they will in- 
irease their influence in the great and heavenly w^ork of regene- 
rating the world. 

A few remarks on the things wanting in the order of Christian 
assemblies, to give to their public meetings that influence on 
themselves, and on society at large, will finish this section of our 
essay. 

Our heavenly Father wills our happiness in all its institutions. 
His ordinances are, therefore, the surest, the simplest, and the 
most direct means of promoting our happiness. The Lord 
Jesus gave himself for the church that he might purify and bless 
it ; and, therefore, in the church are all the institutions which 
can promote the individual and social good of the Christian com- 
munity. In attending upon these institutions on the Lord^s day, 
much depends upon the preparation of heart in all who unite to 
commemorate the death and resurrection of the Son of God. 

In adverting to the most scriptural and rational manner of cele- 
brating or observing the day to the Lord, both for their own com- 
fort and the regeneration of the world, we would first of all remark, 
that much depends upon the frame of mind, or preparation of 
heart, in which we visit the assemblies of the saints. 

Suppose two persons, A and B, if you please^, members of the 
same church, taking their seats together at the Lord's table. A, 
from the time he opened his eyes in the morning, was filled with 
the recollections of the Saviour's life, death, and resurrection. 
In his closet, in his family, and along the way, he was meditating 
or conversing on the wonders of redemption, and renewing his 
recollections of the sayings and doings of the Messiah. B, on 
the other hand,, arose as on other days, and, finding himself free 
from all obligations arising from the holiness of the time, talks 
about the common affairs of every day, and allows his thoughts 
to roam over the business of the last week, or, perhaps, to project 
the business of the next. If he meet with a neighbor, friend, or 
brother, the news of the day is inquired after, expatiated upon, 
discussed ; the crops, the markets, the public health, or the 
weather — ^the affairs of Europe, or the doings of Congress, or the 

24* 



282 .THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

prospects of some candidate for political honor — become the theme 
of conversation. As he rides or walks to the church, he chats 
upon all, or any of these topics, till he enter the door of the meet- 
ing-house. Now, as A and B enter the house in very different 
states of mind, may it not be supposed that they will differ as 
much in their enjoyments as in their morning thoughts ? Or can 
B by a single effort, unburden his mind, call in the wanderings 
of his thoughts, and in a moment transport himself from the con- 
templation of things on earth to things in heaven ? If this can 
be imagined, then meditation and preparation of heart are wholly 
unnecessary to the acceptable worship of God, and to the com- 
fortable enjoyment of his institutions. 

But is it compatible with experience, or is it accordant to rea- 
son, that B can delight in God, and rejoice in commemorating the 
wonders of his redemption, while his thoughts are dissipated 
upon the mountains of a thousand vanities ? — while, like a fool's 
eyes, his thoughts are roaming to the ends of the earth ? Can he 
say, with a pious Jew, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, 
Lord of hosts ! My soul longs — yes, even faints — for the courts 
of the Lord ! My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 
Happy they who dwell in thy house ; they will be still praising 
thee ! A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather 
be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the 
tents of wickedness.'^ " One thing have I desired of the Lord, 
and that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the 
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 
and to inquire in his temple. Oh, send out thy light and thy truth ! 
Let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy 
tabernacles. Then will I go to the altar of God, to God my ex- 
ceeding joy ; yes, I will praise thee, God, my God V' 

Or had the Jew a sublimer worship, more exalted views of 
God's salvation, and more piety, than a Christian? Or were the 
ordinances of the Jewish sanctuary more entertaining and re- 
freshing than the ordinances of the Christian church ? This will 
not be alleged ; consequently B, and all of that school, are utterly 
at fault when they approach the house of God in such a state of 
mind as they approach the market-place, the forum, or the com- 
mon resorts of this present world. 

Christians need not say, in excuse for themselves, that all days 
are alike, that all places and times are alike holy, and that they 
ought to be in the best frame of mind all the time. For even 
concede them all their own positions : they will not contend that 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 283 

a man ought to speak to God, or to come into the presence of God, 
as they approach men. They will not say that they ought to 
have the same thoughts or feelings in approaching the Lord's 
table, as in approaching a common table ; or on entering a court 
of political justice, as in coming into the house of God. There 
is, in the words of Solomon the Wise, a season and time for every 
object and for every work: ihere is the Lord's day, the Lord's 
table, the Lord's house, and the Lord's people; and there are 
thoughts, and frames of mind, and behavior compatible and in- 
compatible with all these. 

In the public assembly the whole order of worship ought to do 
justice to what is passing in the minds of all the worshippers. 
That joy in the Lord, that peace and serenity of mind, that affec- 
tion for the brethren, that reverence for the institutions of God's 
house, which all feel, should be manifest in all the business of 
the day. Nothing that would do injustice to all or any of these 
ought ever to appear in the congregation of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. No levity, irreverence, no gloom, no sadness, no pride, no 
unkindness, no severity of behavior towards any, no coldness-, 
nothing but love, and peace, and joy, and humility, and reverence, 
should appear in the face, in the word or action, of any disciple. 

These are not little matters. They all exert a salutary influ- 
ence on the brethren and the strangers. These are visible and 
sensible displays of the temper and spirit of Christians ; and if 
Paul thought it expedient to write of veils and long Jiair when 
admonishing a church "to do all things decently and in order," 
we, in this day of degeneracy, may be allowed to notice matters 
and things as minute as those before us. 

We intend not now to go into details of church order or Chris- 
tian discipline, nor to expatiate on the necessity of devoting a 
part of the time to singing, praying, reading, teaching, exhorting, 
commemorating, communicating; nor on how much of this or 
that is expedient. Times and circumstances must decide how 
much time shall be taken up in these exercises, and when it shall 
be most fitting to meet, to adjourn, &c. Nor is it necessary now 
to say, that there must be scriptural order, and presidency, and 
proper discipline, and due subordination to one another in the 
fear of God. We now speak rather of the manner in which all 
things are to be done, than of the things themselves, their neces- 
sity or value. 

After noticing what in some instances appears to be wanting 
in the manner of coming together on the Lord's day, we Droceed 



284 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

to notice in order the things wanting in many congregations, Ibi 
the purposes already specified. 

And, first of all, be it observed, that in some churches there 
appears to be wanting a proper method of handling the Scriptures 
to the edification of the brethren. It is admitted by all the holy 
brethren, that the Scriptures of truth, called the living oracles, are 
the great instrument oT God for all his purposes in the saints on 
earth. Through them they are converted to God, comforted, ccn- 
secrated, made meet for an inheritance among the sanctified, and 
qualified for every good word and work. Every thing, then, de- 
pends upon the proper understanding of these volumes of inspira- 
tion. They can only operate as far ajS they are understood. 

The system of sermonizing on a- text is now almost universally 
abandoned by all who intend that their hearers should understand 
the testimony of God. Orators and exhorters may select a word, 
a phrase, or a verse ; but all who feed the floc"k of God with 
knowledge and understanding know that this method is wholly 
absurd. Philological lectures upon a chapter are only a little 
better. The discussion of any particular topic, such as faith, 
repentance, election, the Christian calling, may sometimes be ex- 
pedient: but in a congregation of Christians, the reading and 
examining the different books in regular succession, every dis- 
ciple having the volume in his hand, following up the connection 
of things, examining parallel passages, interrogating and being 
interrogated, fixing the meaning of particular words and phrases 
by comparison with the style of that writer or speaker, or with 
that of others; intermingling these exercises with prayer and 
praises, and keeping the narrative, the epistle, the speech, so long 
as is necessary for the youngest disciple in the congregation to 
understand it, and to become deeply interested in it, will do more 
in one year than is done in many on the plan of the popular 
meetings of the day. 

Great attention should be paid to all the allusions, in any com- 
position, to the particularities of time, place, and circumstance, 
to the geographical, historical, and chronological particulars of 
all questions of fact connected with all persons of note in the 
narratives : for these are often the best interpreters of style, and 
expositors of the meaning of what is written. 

This searching, examining, comparing, and ruminating upon 
the Holy Scriptures in private, in the family, in the congregation, 
cannot fail to make us learned in the knowledge of God and in 
the knowledge of man. The Bible contains more real learning 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 285 

than all the volumes of men. It instructs us in all our natural, 
moral, political, and religious relations. Though it teaches us 
not astronomy, medicine, chemistry, mathematics, architecture, 
it gives us all that knowledge which adorns and dignifies our 
moral nature and fits us for happiness. Happy the person who 
meditates upon it day and night ! He grows and flourishes in 
moral health and vigor, as the trees upon the watercourses. His 
leaf never fades — his fruit never fails. 

The congregations of the saints want system in furthering the 
knowledge of this book. The simple reading of large portions 
in a desultory manner is not Avithout some good effect ; for there 
is light, and majesty, and life, in all the oracles of God ; no man 
can listen to them without edification. But the profit accruing 
from such readings is not a tithe of that which might be obtained 
in the proper systematic reading and examination of them. The 
congregation is the school of Christ, and every pupil there should 
feel that he has learned something every day he waits upon his 
Master. He must take the Master ^s book with him, and, like 
every other good and orderly pupil, he must open it and study it, 
with all the helps that the brotherhood, his school-fellows, can 
furnish for his more comprehensive knowledge of all its salutary 
communications. 

A Christian scribe, well instructed in its contents, or a plurality 
of such, who can bring out of their intellectual treasury things 
new and old, will greatly advance the students in this heavenly 
science ; but, in the absence of such, the students must be self- 
taught; and self-taught scholars are generally the best taught: 
for they cannot progress, unless they study with diligence, and 
carefully learn the rudiments of every science. 

To give some idea of the diligence and attention to the minutest 
matters which are necessary to proficiency in the knowledge of 
all that is written in the New Testament, we shall suppose that 
the disciples have for their lesson, on some particular day, the 
Nativity of the Messiah. The second chapter of Matthew is read. 
After reading this chapter, or the whole of the first section of 
Matthew^s Testimony, the elder or president for the day asks 
some brother, a good reader, to read what the other evangelists 
have testified on this subject. Mark and John being silent on 
the nativity, he reads Luke, 2d section, 2d chapter, from the 1st 
to the 41st verse. After the reading of this chapter, the follow- 
ing points are the subjects of inquiry, and most of them are pro- 
posed to the brethren for solution : — 



286 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

1. Who was Caesar Augustus, and over what people did he 
reign ? 

2. At what period of his reign was the edict of enrolment 
issued, or when did the first register take efi'ect? 

3. What did Syria include, and what were its boundaries? 

4. Who presided over Syria at the time of the first register? 

5. Who was king in Judea at this time ? 

6. How far did Judea extend, or in what part of the Holy 
Land was it situated ? 

7. In what country was Jerusalem, where situated, and by 
what other names was it known ? 

8. What was the native city of Joseph ? 

9. Where was Nazareth situated, and in what district ? 

10. What was the boundary of Galilee, and what were its 
principal towns ? 

11. In what canton or district was Bethlehem, and how far 
from Jerusalem ? 

12. Who were the magians ? 

13. Why was " Herod alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him,^' 
when the magians reported the Star in the East ? 

14. What were the scribes and chief-priests assembled by 
Herod, and why were they called together ? 

15. By what means did they decide the questions referred to 
them ? 

16. On what Prophet do they rely, and where shall the quota- 
tion be found? 

17. Of what family and lineage were Joseph and Mary? 

18. By what means did the magians find the house in which 
the Messiah was born? 

19. Why did the magians not return to Herod? 

20. Whether did the shepherds of Bethlehem, or the Eastern 
magians, first pay their respects to the Messiah? 

21. In what quarter of the globe does Egypt lie?* 

22. How far from Bethlehem ? 

23. How long was the Messiah kept in Egypt? 

24. Who predicted his return from Egypt, and where shall it 
be found ? 

25. Who foretold the slaughter of the male infants in Bethle- 
hem, and what instigated Herod to this cruel massacre ? 

26. Who succeeded Herod in the throne of Judea? 

27. Why did Joseph retire to Nazareth ? 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 287 

28. What Prophet foretold this circumstance, and where shall 
it be found ? 

These matters being all ascertained, to which the maps, geo- 
graphical and chronological indexes, and the appendix to the 
Family Testament, will greatly contribute, some moral reflections 
will naturally occur; for in all these incidents are manifest the 
wisdom, care, and economy of our heavenly Father, his faithful- 
ness, condescension, and love ; the great variety of his instru- 
ments and agents ; the ease with which he frustrates the evil coun- 
sels and machinations of his enemies ; the infallible certainty 
of his foreknowledge ; the perfect free agency of men, good and 
evil; the deep humiliation of his only-begotten Son, in all the 
circumstances of his nativity. Irresistible arguments in favor of 
his pretensions may be drawn from these ancient prophecies, from 
their minuteness of time, place, and circumstance; many eloquent 
and powerful lessons on human pride, vanity, and arrogance, may 
be deduced from the birthplace, cradle, and family connections 
of the Heir of the Universe ; and many other touching appeals to 
the heart, which the birth, circumcision, and dedication of the 
Messiah, with all the incidents in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the 
Temple, connected with his first appearance on earth, furnish, 
will present themselves, with unfading freshness and beauty, to 
the brotherhood of Christ. 

A hint to the wise is sufficient. Were this method pursued 
only two hours every Lord^s day, every disciple giving his heart 
to the work, and were the results then compared with the pro- 
ducts of the scrap-doctors or sermonizers to sleeping and dream- 
ing hearers, no man, having any regard for his reputation for 
good sense, could give his vote for the popular system. 

A reformation in the manner of handling the living oracles is 
much wanting; and the sooner and more generally it is attempted, 
the greater will be the regenerating influence of the brotherhood 
on the world. Intelligent in the Holy Scriptures, clothed with 
the armor of light, every disciple going farth will be a David 
against the Philistines — a host against the armies of the aliens. 
And, better still, the words of heavenly favor dwelling in his 
heart, he will carry with him into every society a fragrance like 
the rose of Sharon — a sweetness of perfume like a garden which 
the Lord has blessed. 

There appears to be wanting in some congregations a proper 
attention to discipline, and a due regard to decorum in the manage- 
ment of such cases as occur. In every family, and in every con- 



288 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

gregation, there is occasional need of discipline. Offences, de- 
linquencies, and apostasies, did occur in the congregations over 
which the Apostles either were, or had been, presidents ; and they 
will happen again in this state of discipline and trial in which 
we are all placed. They must be expected ; and every congre- 
gation ought to be prepared to act upon the emergency with intel- 
ligence and decorum. Much injury has been done to the progress 
of churches, by a remissness in attention to such cases, and in 
the manner they have been disposed of when taken up. 

Nothing can be more preposterous and revolting to every sen- 
timent of good order and decorum, than that every offender and 
offence should, at the very offset, be dragged into the public 
assembly. Persons who have the care of a congregation, the 
seniors whose age and experience have taught them prudence, 
ought to be first informed of such cases ; and they ought to pre- 
sent the matter to the congregation. Every novice is not to feel 
himself at liberty to disturb the congregation by presenting, on 
his own responsibility, and at his own discretion, a complaint 
against a brother, whether it be of a public or private nature. 

But we are now speaking of the manner of procedure in such 
cases. The most tender regard for the feelings of all, the utmost 
sympathy for the offender, the most unyielding firmness in apply- 
ing the correctives which the Head of the church has commanded, 
and the necessity of acting promptly in accordance with the law 
in the case, are matters of much importance. 

No passion, no partiality, no bad feeling — nothing but love and 
piety, but faithfulness and truth; nothing but courtesy and gen- 
tleness — should ever appear in the house of God. And when any 
one is found guilty and excluded from the society, it should be 
done with all solemnity, and with prayer, that the institution of 
Christ may be a blessing to the transgressor. 

But evil-doers, or those that act not honorably according to the 
law of Christ, ought not to be tolerated in the professed family 
of God. Such persons are a dead weight on the whole society — 
spots in every feast of love, and blemishes upon the whole pro- 
fession. One sinner destroys much good: yet separation or 
abscision, like amputation, is only to be used in the last stage, 
when all other remedies, of remonstrance and admonition, expos- 
tulation and entreaty, have failed. To prevent gangrene, or an 
injury to the whole body, amputation is necessary, an indispen- 
sable remedy. More strictness, more firmness, and more tender- 
ness in such cases would add greatly to the moral influence of 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 289 

every society. A few persons walking together in the bonds 
of Christian affection, and under the discipline of Christ, is 
better than the largest assembl}'' in which there are visibly 
and manifestly many who fear not God and keep not his com- 
mandments. 

In the house of God all should be purity, reverence, meekness, 
brotherly kindness, and love. Confidence in the honesty and 
sincerity of our brethren is the life of communion. To feel our- 
selves united with them who are determined for eternal life, and 
resolved to seek first of all, chief of all, above all, the kingdom of 
heaven, and the righteousness required in it, is most animating, 
comforting, exhilarating. But to be doubtful whether we are 
uniting with a mass of ignorance, corruption, and apathy, is as 
rottenness in the bones ; love waxes cold, and then we have the 
form without the power of godliness. 

That the church may have a regenerating influence upon so- 
ciety at large, there is wanting a fuller display of Christian philan- 
thropy in all her public meetings ; care for the poor, manifested 
in tlie liberality of her contributions ; the expression of the most 
unfeigned sympathy for the distresses of mankind, not only among 
the brotherhood, but among all men ; and an ardent zeal for the 
conversion of sinners, proportioned to her professed appreciation 
of the value of her own salvation, and to her resources and means 
of enlightening the world on the things unseen and eternal. The 
full display of these attributes is the most efficient means of 
causing the gospel to sound abroad, and to achieve new conquests 
among our fellow-citizens. The Christian health and vigor of 
every church is to be estimated more by her exertions and suc- 
cess in bringing sinners home to God, than by all her other at- 
tainments. Too long has it been considered the duty, the almost 
exclusive duty, of the preacher, to convert the world. He must 
spend his time and wear out his constitution in journeyings and 
preachings, while the individual members of the church are to 
mind their own business, seek their own wealth and domestic 
comfort. He must endure the heat and the cold, forsake his wife 
and family, and commit the management of his affairs to others, 
while they have only to look on and pray for his success. Strange 
infatuation! Has he received a commission from the skies — has 
he been drafted out of the ranks to go to war, and they all left at 
home to take care of their wives and children ? Some may be- 
lieve this — some may imagine that it is his duty alone to spend 
his time and his talents in this work, and theirs daily to labor for 

25 



290 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

their own interest and behoof; but surely such are nor the views 
and feelings of our brethren! 

The work of the Lord will never progress — or, in other words, 
the regenerating influence of the church will amount to little or 
nothing — so long as it is thought to be not equally the duty of 
every member, or the special duty of one or two, denominated 
preachers, to labor for the Lord. 

There is either a special call, a general call, or no call at all, 
to labor for the conversion of the world. If there be a fcAV spe- 
cially called, the rest have nothing to do but to mind their own 
concerns; "to seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus 
Christ.'' If none be called, then it is the duty of none, and the 
Lord has nothing for his people to do — no world to convert ; or, 
at least, nothing for them to do in that work. None of us are 
prepared for the consequences of either of these assumptions. It 
follows, then, that it is the duty of all to labor according to their 
respective abilities in this work. All are called to labor for the 
Lord. I hold that every citizen in Christ's kingdom is bound to 
take up arms for the King, as much as I am ; and, if he cannot go 
to fight the battles of the Lord; he must take care of the wives 
and children of those who can and who will fight for their King 
and country. But the expense of the war must be borne by the 
subjects of the crown ; and, as the Lord will not have an}^ tax- 
gatherers in his kingdom, but accepts only voluntary contribu- 
tions, he makes a mark over against the names of those who do 
nothing, and he will settle with them at his return. He calls 
even the contributions for the gospel, made by those at home, **a 
fragrant odor, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." 

But we are afraid of doing any thing of this sort, lest we 
should be like some other people, who we think have acted im- 
prudently. Strange, indeed, that when any thing has been once 
abused, it is never again to be used ! But I have inadvertently 
strayed ofi* from my purpose. The manner in which the brethren 
labor for the salvation of the world is all that comes within our 
prescribed limits. On this, enough has been said. Let the 
brethren solemnly consider the things that are wanting to gi^e 
to their meetings that influence which they ought to exert upon 
themselves and upon society at large. 

We are as susceptible of receiving moral and religious advan- 
tages, from our own good order and decorum in the congregation, 
as those who attend our meetings as spectators. And in this in- 
stance, as well as in all the variety of doing good, he that waters? 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 291 

Others is again watered in return ; for he that blesses others ia 
always blessed in blessing them. None enjoy the blessings of 
the gospel more fully than they who are most active and influ- 
ential in blessing others. What happy seasons are those in 
which we see many turning to the Lord ! Now^ if we would 
have a perpetual feast, we must be perpetually devoted to the 
promotion of the happiness of others. We must live for God, as 
well as live to God. 

In filling up these outlines, other matters still more minute, 
but, perhaps, equally important, will present themselves to the 
attention of the brethren. Now, we cannot set about these mat- 
ters too soon. The time has again come, when judgment must 
begin at the house of God. The people who have long enjoyed 
the word of life and the Christian institutions must soon come 
to a reckoning. They must give an account of their stewardship, 
for the Lord has promised to call them to a judgment. An era is 
just at the door, which will be known as the Regeneration for a 
thousand years to come. The Lord Jesus will judge that adul- 
terous brood, and give them over to the burning flame, who have 
broken the covenant, and formed alliances with the governments 
of the earth. Now the cry is heard in our land, "Come out of 
her, my people, that you partake not of her sins, and that you 
may not receive of her plagues.'^ The Lord Jesus will soon 
rebuild Jerusalem, and raise up the tabernacle of David which 
has so long been in ruins. Let the church prepare herself for 
the return of her Lord, and see that she make herself ready for 
his appearance. 

THE REGENERATION OF THE WORLD. 

All the kingdoms of this world shall' soon become the king- 
doms of our Lord the King. He will hurl all the present poten- 
tates from their thrones. He will grind to powder the despotisms, 
civil and ecclesiastic; and, with the blast of his mouth, give them 
to the four winds of heaven. The antichristian power, whethei' 
it be called Papistical, Mohammedan, Pagan, or Atheistic, will 
as certainly be destroyed, as Jesus reigns in heaven. No trace of 
them shall remain. The best government on earth, call it Eng- 
lish or American, has within it the seeds of its own destruction — 
carries in its constitution a millstone, which will sink it to the 
bottom of the sea. They acknowledge not that God has set his 
Christ upon his throne. They will not kiss the Son, Society 



292 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

under their economy is not blessed. The land mourns through 
the wickedness of those that sit in high places. Ignorance, pov- 
erty, and crime abound, because of the injustice and iniquities 
of those who guide the destinies of nations. Men that fear not 
God, and love not his Son, and that regard not the maxims of 
his government, yet wear the sword and sway the sceptre in all 
lands. 

This is wholly adverse to the peace and happiness of the world. 
Therefore he will break them in pieces like a potter^s vessel, and 
set up an order of society in which justice, inflexible justice, shall 
have uncontrolled dominion. Jesus will be universall}^ acknow- 
ledged by all the race of living men, and all nations shall do him 
homage. This state of society will be the consummation of the 
Christian religion, in all its moral influences and tendencies upon 
mankind. 

How far this change is to be effected by moral and how far by 
physical means, is not the subject of our present inquiry. But 
the preparation of a people for the coming of the Lord must be 
the result of the restoration of the ancient gospel and order of 
things. And, come when it may, the day of the regeneration of 
the world will be a day as wonderful and terrible as was the day 
of the deluge, of Sodom^s judgment, or of Jerusalem's catas- 
trophe. Who shall stand when the Lord does this? But all the 
regenerations, physical and moral, individual, congregational, or 
national, are but types and shadows, or means of preparation 
for the — 



REGENERATION OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. 

The Bible begins with the generations of the heavens and the 
earth ; but the Christian revelation ends with the regenerations 
or new creation of the heavens and the earth. This the ancient 
promise of God confirmed to us by the Christian Apostles. The 
present elements are to be changed by fire. The old or ante- 
diluvian earth was purified by water; but the present earth is 
reserved for fire, with all the works of man that are upon it. It 
shall be converted into a lake of liquid fire. But the dead in 
Christ will have been regenerated in body, before the old earth is 
regenerated by fire. The bodies of the saints will be as homo- 
g\?neous with the new earth and heavens as their present bodies 
are with the present heavens and earth. God recreates, regene- 
rates, but annihilates nothing; and, therefore, the present eartb 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 293 

is not to be annihilated. The best description we can give of thia 
regeneration is in the words of one who had a vision of it on the 
island of Patmos. He describes it as far as it is connected with 
the New Jerusalem, which is to stand upon the new earth, under 
the canopy of the new heaven : — 

*'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the former 
heaven and the former earth were passed away; and the sea was 
no more. And I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, 
descending from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned 
for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, say- 
ing, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall 
pitch his tent among them, and they shall be his people, and 
God himself shall be among them — their God. And he shall 
wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no 
more, nor grief, nor crying; nor shall there be any more pain: 
for the former things are passed away.'' 

A WORD TO THE MORAL REGENERATORS OF THE AGE. 

God, our heavenly Father, works by means, as we all confess. 
His means are wisely adapted to the ends he has in view. His 
agents are the best agents for the work he has to accomplish. 
He employs not physical means nor agents for moral ends and 
purposes. Nor does he produce physical effects by moral means 
and agents. He has been pleased to employ not angels, but men, 
in the work of regenerating the world. Men have written, printed, 
and published the gospel for nearly two thousand years. They 
have perpetuated it from generation to generation. They have 
translated it from language to language, and carried it from 
country to country. They have preached it in word and in deed, 
and thus it has come down to our days. 

During the present administration of the reign of Heaven, no 
change is to be expected ; no new mission is to be originated, no 
new order of preachers is to be instituted. The King has gone 
to a far country ; and, before his departure, he called together his 
servants, and committed to them, the management of his estate 
till he return. He has not yet come to reckon with them. They 
were commanded first to proclaim the doctrine of his reign; then 
to write it in a book, and to commit it to faithful men, who should 
be able to teach it correctly to others. By these faithful men the 
records have been kept; and through their vigilance and industry 
they have been guarded from corruption, interpolation, and change* 



294 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

One generation handed them over to the next; and, if ignorant and 
unfaithful copyists neglected their duty, others more faithful have 
corrected them ; and now we are able to hear the words which 
Jesus spake, and to read the very periods penned by the Apostles. 

Thus, whatever the Prophets and the Apostles have achieved 
since their death has been accomplished by human agents like 
ourselves. Where men have not carried this intelligence in 
speech or writing, not one of our race knows God or his anointed 
Saviour. No angel nor Holy Spirit has been sent to the pagan 
nations : and God has exerted no power out of his word to en- 
lighten or reclaim savage nations. These indisputable facts and 
truths have much moral meaning, and ought to give a strong im- 
pulse to our efforts to regenerate the world. 

The best means of doing this is the object now before us; and 
this is one the importance of which cannot be easily exaggerated. 
There are three ways of proceeding in this case, which now 
seem to occupy a considerable share of public attention. These 
are properly called tlieorizing, declaiming j and preacJiing ; on each 
of which we may offer a remark or two in passing. 

The tlieoi^izers are those who are always speculating upon cor- 
rect notions, or the true theory of conversion. They are great 
masters of method, and with some of them it is a ruinous error to 
place faith before regeneration, or repentance after faith. Heresy, 
with these, is the derangement of the method, which these have 
proposed for God to work by in converting the sinner. And the 
true faith which is connected with salvation is an apprehension 
of this theory and acquiescence in it. These are all theorists, 
heady or speculative Christians; and with them the whole scheme 
of redemption is a splendid theory. 

Our maxim is, Theory for the doctors, and medicine for the sick. 
Doctors fatten on theories, but patients die who depend on theory 
for a cure. A few grains of practice is worth a pound of theory. 
The mason and the carpenter build the house hy rule; but he that 
inhabits it lives by eating and drinking. No man ever was cured 
physically, politically, morally, or religiously, by learning a cor- 
rect theory of his physical, political, moral, or religious malady. 
As soon might we expect to heal an ulcer on the liver by a dis- 
course upon that organ, its functions, its diseases, and their cure, 
as to restore a sinner by means of the theory of faith, repentance, 
regeneration, or effectual calling. But on this enough has already 
been said, and more than is necessary to convince those who can 
think, and who dare to reason on such themes. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 295 

The declaimers are not those only who eulogize virtue and re- 
probate vice ; but that large and respectable class who address 
themselves to the passions, to the hopes and fears, of men. They 
are those who are so rhetorical upon the joys of heaven, and the 
terrors of hell: who horrify, terrify, and allure by the strength of 
their descriptions, the flexions of their voices, the violence of 
their gestures, and their touching anecdotes. Their hearers are 
aither dissolved in tears, or frantic with terror. These talk much 
about the heart ; and, on their theory, if man's heart was extracted 
all his religion would be extracted with it. The religion of their 
converts flows in their blood, and has its foundation in their 
passions. 

The preachers, properly so called, first address themselves to 
the understanding, by a declaration or narrative of the wonderful 
works of God. They state, illustrate, and prove the great facts 
of the gospel ; they lay the whole record before their hearers ; and 
when they have testified what God has done, what he has pro- 
mised and threatened, they exhort their hearers on these premises 
and persuade them to obey the gospel, to surrender themselves to 
the guidance and direction of the Son of God. They address 
themselves to the whole man, his understanding, will, and affec- 
tions, and approach the heart by taking the citadel of the under- 
standing. 

The accomplished and wise proclaimer of the word will find 
it always expedient to address his audience in their proper cha- 
racter ; to approach them through their prejudices, and never to 
find fault with those prepossessions which are not directly op- 
posed to the import and design of the ministry of reconciliation. 
He will set before them the models found in the sacred history, 
which show that the same discourse is not to be preached in every 
place and to every assembly, even when it is necessary to pro- 
claim the same gospel. PauFs addresses to the Athenians, 
Lycaonians, Antiochians, to Felix, the Jailer, and King Agrippa, 
are full of instruction on this topic. 

Augustine has written a treatise on preaching, which Luther 
proposed to himself as a model ; but it is said that Augustine fell 
as far short of his own precepts as did any of his contemporor 
ries. We all can with more facility give precepts to others, than 
conform to them ourselves. In Augustine's treatise, which in 
some respects influenced and formed the style and plan of Luther, 
and through him all the Protestants, there is much said on the 
best rhetorical mode "of exhibiting the truth to others,''' but it 



296 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

savors more of the art of the schoolmen, than of the wisdom oi 
the Apostles. He labors more on the best style and mode of 
expressing one's self, than on the things to be said. 

Our best precepts in this matter are derived rather from the 
books of Deuteronomy and Nehemiah, than from any other source 
out of the New Testament. The book of Deuteronomy may be 
regarded as a series of sermons or discourses, delivered to the 
Jews by their great teacher, Moses, rather than as a part of the 
Jewish history. Two things in this book deserve great attention. 
The first is the simplicity, fulness, and particularity of his nar- 
ratives of the incidents on the journey through the wilderness; — • 
God\s doings and theirs, for the last forty years, are intelligibly 
laid before them. The next is the use made of these facts ; the 
conclusions deduced, the arguments drawn, and the exhortations 
tendered, from these facts. For a fair and beautiful specimen of 
this, let the curious reader take up and carefully read the first 
four chapters of the book of Deuteronomy. The fact and the 
application, the argument and the exhortation, after the manner 
of Moses, cannot fail to instruct him. 

The writings of the scribes during the Captivity teach us how 
to address a people that have lost the true meaning of the oracles 
of God. The readings, expositions, exhortations, and prayers of 
Ezra and Nehemiah are full of instruction to Christians in these 
days of Babylonish captivity. To address a people long accus- 
tomed to hearing the scriptures, yet ignorant of them, and con- 
sequently disobedient, is a matter that requires all the wisdom 
and prudence which can be acquired from Jewish and Christian 
records. 

The manner of address, next to the matter of it, is most import- 
ant. The weightiest arguments, the most solemn appeals, the 
most pathetic expostulations, if not sustained by the gravity, sin- 
cerity, and piety of the speaker, will be like water spilled upon 
the ground. A little levity, a few witticisms, a sarcastic air, a 
conceited attitude, or a harsh expression, will often neutralize all 
the excellencies of the most scriptural and edifying discourse. 
The great work of regenerating men is too solemn, too awfully 
grave and divine, to allow any thing of the sort. Humility, se- 
renity, devotion, and all benevolence" in aspect, as well as in 
language, are essential to a successful proclamation of the great 
facts of the Living Oracles. He that can smile in his discourse 
at the follies, need not weep over the misfortunes, of the igno- 
rant and superstitious. He that can, while preaching the gospel, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 297 

deride and ridicule the errors of his fellow-professors, is, for the 
time-being, disqualified to persuade them to accept of truth, or 
gladly to receive the message of salvation. 

Those preachers have been sadly mistaken, who have sought 
popularity by their eccentricities, and courted smiles rather than 
souls ; — who, by their anecdotes and foolish jests, told with the 
Bible before them, have thought to make themselves useful by 
making themselves ridiculous — and to regenerate men by teach- 
ing them how to violate the precepts of the gospel, and to disdain 
the examples of the Great Teacher and his Apostles. 

It will not do. These are the weapons of this world, and no 
part of the armor of light. Jesus and his Apostles never sanc- 
tioned, by precept or example, such a course; and it is condemned 
by all sensible men, whether Jews or Gentiles, professors or 
profiine. 

In attempting to regenerate men, we must place before them 
the new man, not the old man, in the preacher as well as in the 
discourse; and, while we seek out arguments to convince and 
allure them, we must show them, in our speech and behavior, 
that we believe what we preach. So did the Apostles and Evan- 
gelists. They commended themselves to every man^s conscience 
in the sight of Jesus Christ. 

Error must be attacked. It must be opposed by the truth. 
But it ma^ be asked, whether the darkness may not be more easily 
dissipated by the introduction of light, than by elaborate dis- 
courses upon its nature and attributes. So with moral darkness 
or error. To dissipate it most effectually, the easiest and most 
ready way is to introduce the light of truth. No preacher is 
obliged to learn all the errors of all ages, that he may be able to 
oppose them; nor is a congregation enlightened in the knowledge 
of God by such expositions of error. Present opposing errors 
may require attention; but to attack these most successfully, it is 
only necessary to enforce the opposing truths. 

This is a very grave subject, and requires very grave attention. 
Much depends upon a rational and scriptural decision of the 
question. Which is the most effectual way to oppose and destroy error f 
To aid us in such an inquiry, it is necessary to examine how the 
Prophets and Apostles opposed the errors of their times. The 
world was as full of error in those days as it has ever been since. 
The idolatries of the pagan world, and the various doctrines of 
the sects of philosophers, in and out of the land of Israel, threw 
as much labor into their hands, as the various heresies of apostate 



Z\)b THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Christendom have thrown into ours. Their general rule was tc 
tarn the artillery of light, and to gather into a focus the arrowa 
of da}^, upon the dark shades of any particular error Their 
philosophy was : — The splendors of light most clearly display 
the blackness of darkness, and scatter it from its presence. Thus 
they opposed idolatry, superstition, and error of every name. 
Going forth in the armor of light, as the sun in the morning, the 
shades of the night retired from their presence, and the cheering 
beams of day so gladdened the eyes of their converts, that they 
loved darkness no more. Let us go and do likewise. 

An intimate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures is the best 
apparatus for the work of regenerating men. The best piece I 
have found in the celebrated treatise of Augustine on preaching 
is the following: — 

'* He, then, who handles and teaches the word of God, should 
be a defender of the true faith, and a vanquisher of error ; and in 
accomplishing this, the object of preaching, he should conciliate 
the adverse, excite the remiss, and point out to the ignorant their 
duty and future prospects. When, however, he finds his audi 
ence favorably disposed, attentive, and docile, or succeeds in ren- 
dering them so, then other things are to be done, as the case may 
requii'e. If they are to be instructed, then, to make them ac- 
quainted w^ith the subject in question, narration must be employ- 
ed ; and, to establish w4iat is doubtful, resort must be had to rea- 
soning and evidence. If they are to be moved rather than in- 
structed, then, to arouse them from stupor in putting their 
knowledge into practice, and bring them to yield full assent to 
those things w^hich they confess to be true, there will be need of 
the higher powers of eloquence ; it w^ill be necessary to entreat, 
reprove, excite, restrain, and do whatsoever else may prove effec- 
tual in moving the heart. 

"All this, indeed, is what most men constantly do with respect 
to those things w^hich they undertake to accomplish by speaking. 
Some, however, in their way of doing it, are blunt, frigid, inele- 
gant ; others, ingenious, ornate, vehement. Now, he w^ho engages 
in the business of which I am treating must be able to speak and 
dispute with wisdom, even if he cannot do so with eloquence, in 
Glider that he may profit his audience ; although he w^ill profit 
them less in this case, than if he could combine Avisdom and 
eloquence together. He who abounds in eloquence w-ithout w^is- 
dom is certainly so much the more to be avoided, from the very 
fact that the hearer is delighted with what it is useless to hear 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 299 

and thinks what is said to be true, because it is spoken with 
elegance. Nor did this sentiment escape the notice of those 
among the ancients, who yet regarded it as important to teach 
the art of rhetoric ; they confessed that wisdom without elo- 
quence profited states but very little, but that eloquence without 
w^isdom profited them not at all, and generally proved highly 
injurious. If, therefore, those who taught the precepts of elo- 
quence, even though ignorant of the true, that is, the celestial 
wisdom * which cometh down from the Father of lights,^ were 
compelled by the instigations of truth to make such a confession, 
and that too in the very books in which their principles were de- 
veloped ; are we not under far higher obligations to acknowledge 
the same thing, who are the sons and daughters of this heavenly 
wisdom? Now, a man speaks with greater or less wisdom, ac- 
cording to the proficiency he has made in the sacred Scriptures. 
I do not mean in reading them and committing them to memory, 
f ut in rightly understanding them, and diligently searching into 
their meaning. There are those who read them and yet neglect 
them ; who read them to remember the words, but neglect to 
understand them. To these, without any doubt, those persons are 
to be preferred, who, retaining less the words of the Scriptures, 
search after their genuine signification with the inmost feelings 
of the heart. But better than both is he, who can repeat them 
when he pleases, and at the same time understands them as they 
ought to be understood. ^'^ 

Luther's favorite maxim was, '^ Bonus Textuarius, Bonus Tlieo- 
logu ;'' or. One well acquainted with the scriptures makes a good 
theologian. 

There is one thing-, above all others, which must never be lost 
si»ght of by him who devotes himself to the work of regeneration. 
This all-important consideration is, that the end and object of all 
his labors is to impress the moral image of God upon the moral 
nature of man. To draw this image upon the heart, to transform 
the mind of man into the likeness of God in all moral feeling, is 
the end proposed in the remedial system. The mould into which 
the mind of man is to be cast is the Apostles' doctrine ; or the 
seal by which this impression is to be made is the testimony of 
God. The gospel facts are like so many types, which; when 
scientifically arranged by an accomplished compositor, make a 
complete form, u|:on which, when the mind of man is placed by 

* From the T;il;lical Repos'tory, p. 574. Translated from the Latia by 0. A. Taylor 
of Audover, Mass 



300 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the power which God has given to the preacher, every type makes 
its full impression upon the heart. There is written upon tho 
understanding, and engraved upon the heart, the will, or law, or 
character, of our Father who is in heaven. 

The Apostles were these accomplished compositors, who gave 
us a perfect ''^fovm of sound words J^ Our instrumentality consists 
in bringing the minds of men to this form, or impressing it upon 
their hearts. To do this most effectually, the preacher or evan- 
gelist must have the word of Christ dwelling in him richly, in 
all wisdom ; and he must " study to show himself an approved 
workman, irreproachable, rightl}?- dividing the word of truth.'' 
He that is most eloquent and wise in the Holy Scriptures, he who 
has them most at command, will have the most power with men ; 
because, being furnished with the words of the Holy Spirit, he 
has the very arguments which the Spirit of God chooses to em- 
ploy in quickening the dead, in converting sinners. For to the 
efficacy of the living word not only Paul deposes, but James and 
Peter also bear ample testimony. " Of his own will he has be- 
gotten us, by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first- 
fruits of his creatures.''^ ** Having been regenerated, not by 
corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, through the word of the 
living God which remains. ^'f To the fruits of his labors, such 
a. preacher, with Paul, may say, "To Jesus Christ, through the 
gospel, I have regenerated or begotten ^^ou.^' 

Thus, in the midst of numerous interruptions, we have at- 
tempted to lay before the minds of our readers the whole doctrine 
of Regeneration, in all its length and breadth, in the hope, that 
after a more particular attention to its meaning and value, by tho 
blessing of God, they may devote themselves more successfully 
to this great work ; and not only enjoy more of the Holy Spirit 
themselves, but be more useful in forwarding the moral regene- 
ration of the world. 

To God our Father, through the great Author of the Christian 
faith, who has preserved us in health in this day of affliction and 
great distress, be everlasting thanks for the renewing of our minds 
by the Holy Spirit, and for the hope of the regeneration of our 
bodies, of the heavens and of the earth, at the appearance of the 
Almighty Regenerator, who comes to make all things new !-— » 
Amen. 

* James i. 18. f 1 Peter i. 23. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. SOI 



BREAKING THE LOAF. 

"Man ^Tas not made for the Christian Institution, but the Chris- 
tian Institution for man. None but a master of the human con- 
stitution — none but one perfectly skilled in all the animal, intel- 
lectual, and moral endowments of man — could perfectly adapt an 
institution to man in reference to all that he is, and to all that he 
is destined to become. Such is the Christian Institution. Its 
evidences of a divine origin increase and brighten in the ratio of 
our progress in the science of man. He who most attentively and 
profoundly reads himself, and contemplates the picture which 
the Lord of this Institution has drawn of him, will be most wil- 
ling to confess, that man is wholly incapable of originating it. 
He is ignorant of himself, and of the race from which he sprang, 
w^ho can persuade himself that man, in any age, or in any coun- 
try, was so far superior to himself as to have invented such an 
institution as the Christian. That development of man in all his 
natural, moral, and religious relations, which the Great Teacher 
has given, is not further beyond the intellectual powers of man, 
than is the creation of the sun, moon, and stars beyond his 
physical strength. 

The eye of man cannot see itself ; the ear of man cannot hear 
itself; nor the understanding of man discern itself: but there is 
One who sees the human eye, who hears the human ear, and who 
discerns the human understanding. He it is who alone is skilled 
in revealing man to himself, and himself to man. He who made 
the eye of man, can he not see? He who made the ear of man, 
can he not hear? He who made the heart of man, can he not 
know ? 

It is as supernatural to adapt a system to man as it is to create 
him. He has never thought much upon his own powers, who 
has not seen as much wisdom on the outside as in the inside of 
the human head. To suit the outside to the inside required as 
much wisdom as to suit the inside to the outside, and yet the 
exterior arrangement exists for the interior. To fashion a case- 
ment for the human soul exhibits as many attributes of the 



302 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

Creator, as to fashion a human spirit for its habitation, Man^ 
therefore, could as easily make himself, as a system of religion 
to suit himself. It will be admitted, that it calls for as much 
skill to adapt the appendages to the human eye, as the human 
eye to its appendages. To us it is equally plain, that it requires 
as much wisdom to adapt a religion to man, circumstanced as 
he is, as to create him an intellectual and moral being. 

But to understand the Christian religion, we must study it ; 
and to enjoy it, we must practise it. To come into the kingdom 
of Jesus Christ is one thing, and to live as a wise, a good, and a 
happy citizen, is another. As every human kingdom has its 
constitution, laws, ordinances, manners, and customs ; so has the 
kingdom of the Great King. He, then, who would be a good and 
happy citizen of it, must understand and submit to its constitu- 
tion, laws, ordinances, manners, and customs. 

The object of the present essay is to develop one of the insti- 
tutions or ordinances of this kingdom ; and this we shall attempt 
by stating, illustrating, and sustaining the following proposi- 
tions : — 

Prop. I. — There is a house on earth, called the house of God. 

The most high God dwells not in temples made with human 
hands; yet he condescended in the age of types to have a temple 
erected for himself, which he called his house, and glorified it 
with the symbols of his presence. In allusion to this, the Chris- 
tian community, organized under the government of his Son, is 
called his house and temple. *'You are God's building,'^ says 
Paul to a Christian community. This building is said to be "built 
upon the Apostles and Prophets — Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner-stone.^^ "Know you not that you are the temple of 
God? The temple of God is holy, which temple you are.'^ 

But in allusion to the Jewish temple, the Christian church oo- 
^upies the middle space between the outer court and the holiest 
of all. " The holy places made with hands were figures of the 
true.'' The common priests went alioays into the first taber- 
nacle or holy place, and the high-priest once a year into the holiest 
i)f all. Thus our Great High-Priest went once for all into the 
true "holiest of all,'' into the real presence of God, and has per- 
mitted us Christians, as a royal priesthood, as a chosen race, to 
enter always into the only holy place now on earth — the Chris- 
tian Church. "As living stones we are built up into a spiritual 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 308 

house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices most ac- 
ceptable to God by Jesus Christ/^^ 

But all we aim at here is to show that the community under 
Christ is called ^'the liouse of GodJ^ Paul once calls it a house 
of God, and once the house of God. An individual or single con- 
gregation, he calls "a liouse of GodJ^] I have written to you, 
*Uhat you may know how to behave yourself in a house of God, 
which is the congregation of God.^'f And in his letter to the 
Hebrews, II speaking of the whole Christian community, he calls 
it the house of God.| " Having a Great High-Priest over the 
house of God, let us draw near,'' &c. It is, then, apparent, that 
there is under the Lord Messiah, now on earth, an institution 
called the house of God ; and this resembles the holy place be- 
tween the outer court and the holiest of all which is the position 
to be proved. 



Prop. II. — In the house of God there is always the table of the 

Lord. 

As there is an analogy between the Jewish holy place, and the 
Christian house of God; so there is an analogy between the furni- 
ture of the first tabernacle or holy place, and those who officiated 
in it; and the furniture of the Christian house of God, and those 
who officiate in it. "In the first tabernacle/' says Paul, *' which 
is called holy, there were the candlestick, and the table, and the 
showbread," or the loaves of the presence. On the golden table 
every Sabbath day were placed tivelve loaves, which were exhi- 
bited there for one week, and on the next Sabbath they were sub- 
stituted by twelve fresh loaves sprinkled over with frankincense. 
The loaves which were removed from the table were eaten by 
the priests. These were called in the Hebrew "^7^e loaves of the 
faces,^' or the loaves of the presence. This emblem of the abun- 
dance of spiritual food in the presence of God for all who dwell 
in the holy place stood always upon the golden table furnished 
by the twelve tribes, even in the wilderness. The light in the 
first tabernacle was not from without, but from the seven lamps 
placed on the golden candlestick; emblematic of the perfect 
light, not derived from this world, which is enjoyed in the house 
of God. 

* 1 Peter ii. 5. f 1 Tim. iii. 15, % Greek, oikos Theou 

jl Heb. X. 21. g Greek, ho oikos TMou. 



804 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

If, then, in the emblematic house of God, to which corresponds 
the Christian house of God, there was not only a table overlaid 
with gold, always spread, and on it displayed twelve large loaves, 
or cakes, sacred memorials and emblems of God's bounty and 
grace; shall we say that in that house, over which Jesus is a 
Son, there is not to stand always a table more precious than gold, 
covered with a richer repast for the holy and royal priesthood 
which the Lord has instituted, who may always enter into the 
holy place consecrated by himself? 

But we are not dependent on analogies, nor far-fetched infer- 
ences, for the proof of this position. Paul, who perfectly under- 
stood both the Jewish and Christian institutions, tells us that 
there is in the Christian temple a table, appropriately called the 
Lord's table, as a part of its furniture. He informs those who 
were in danger of being polluted by idolatry, *'that they could 
not be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of demons.''^ 
In all his allusions to this table in this connection, he represents 
it as continually approached by those in the Lord's house. 
*'The cup of the Lord'' and "the loaf," for which thanks Avere 
continually offered, are the furniture of this table, to which the 
Christian brotherhood have free access. 

The Apostle Paul reminds the saints in Corinth of their fa- 
miliarity with the Lord's table, in speaking of it as being com- 
mon as the meetings of the brotherhood. *' The cup of blessing 
for which we bless God, is it not the joint participation of the 
blood of Christ? The loaf which we break, is it not the joint 
participation of the body of Christ ?" In this style we speak of 
things common and usual, never thus of things uncommon or 
unusual. It is not the cup which we have received with thanks ; 
nor is it the loaf which we have broken ; but which we do break. 
But all that we aim at here is now accomplished ; for it has been 
shown that in the Lord's house there is alicays the table of tlit 
Lord. It is scarcely necessary to add, that if it be shown that in 
the Lord's house there is the Lord's table, as a part of the furni- 
ture, it must always be there, unless it can be shown that only 
some occasions require its presence, and others its absence ; or 
that the Lord is poorer or more churlish at one time than at an- 
other; that he is not always able to keep a table, or too parsimo- 
nious to furnish it for his friends. But this is in anticipation of 
our subject, and we proceed to the third proposition, 

• 1 Cor. X. 21. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 305 

Prop. III. — On the LorcVs table there is of necessity hut one loaf. 

The necessity is not that of a positive law enjoining one loaf 
and only one, as the ritual of Moses enjoined twelve loaves. But 
it is a necessity arising from the meaning of the Institution as 
explained by the Apostles. As there is but one literal body, and 
but one mystical or figurative body having many members ; so 
there must be but one loaf. The Apostle insists upon this, " Be- 
cause there is one loaf, we, the many, are one body ; for we are 
all partakers of that one loaf.'^* The Greek word artos, espe- 
cially when joined with words of number, says Dr. Macknight, 
always signifies a loaf, and is so translated in our Bibles: — "Do 
you not remember the five loaves^'^j There are many instances of 
the same sort. Dr. Campbell says, ''that in the plural number ifc 
ought always to be rendered loaves; but when there is a numeral 
before it, it indispensably must be rendered loaf or loaves. Thus 
we say one loaf, seven loaves ; not one bread, seven breads.^' — 
''Because there is one loaf,^' says Paul, "we must consider the 
whole congregation as one body.^^ Here the Apostle reasons from 
what is more plain to what is less plain ; from what was esta- 
blished to what was not so fully established in the minds of the 
Corinthians. There was no dispute about the one loaf; therefore, 
there ought to be none about the one body. This mode of reason- 
ing makes it as certain as a positive law ; because that which 
an Apostle reasons from must be an established fact, or an esta- 
blished principle. To have argued from an assumption or a 
contingency to establish the unity of the body of Christ would 
have been ridiculous in a logician, and how unworthy of an 
Apostle ! It was, then, an established institution, that there is 
but one loaf, inasmuch as the Apostle establishes his argument 
by a reference to it as an established fact. Our third proposition 
is, then, sustained, that on the Lord's table there is of necessity hut 
one loaf 

Prop. IV. — All Christians are members of the house or fimily of 
God, are called and constituted a holy and royal priesthood, and 
may, therefore, bless God for the Lord's table, its loaf and cup — • 
approach it without fear, and partake of it with joy as often as 
they please, in remembrance of the death of their Lord and Saviour, 

The difi'erent clauses of this proposition, we shall sustain in 

* 1 Cor. X. 17. t Matt. xvi. 9. 

26* 



306 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

order — "a?/ Clirisiians are members of tJie family or Jioiise of 
GodJ'"^ " But Christ is trusted as a Son over his own family; 
whose family we are, provided we maintain our profession and 
boasted hope unshaken to the end;'' — '^are called and constitided 
a holy and a royal prieslhoodJ^-\ You, also, as living stones, are 
built up a spiritual temple, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual 
sacrifices most acceptable to God through Jesus Christ/' In the 
ninth verse of the same chapter be says, *'But you are an elect 
race, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood ;'' and this is ad- 
dressed to all the brethren dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappa- 
docia, Asia, and Bithynia. 

May not, then, holy and royal priest? thank God for the Lord's 
table, its loaf, and cup of wine ? May they not, without a human 
priest to consecrate the way for them, apx)roach the Lord's table, 
and handle the loaf and cup? If the comraon priests did not fear 
to approach the golden table, and to piac^ upon it the foavos of 
the presence : if they feared not to take and eat that consecrated 
bread, because priests according to the flesh — shall royal priests 
fear, without the intervention of human hj^nds, to approach the 
Lord's table and to partake of the one loaf? If they should, they 
know not how to appreciate the consecratiox? of Jesus, nor how 
to value their high calling and exalted desigixation as kings and 
priests to God. And may Ave not say, that he A\ho, invested with 
a little clerical authority, derived only from "the Man of Sin and 
Son of Perdition,'' if borrowed from the Romanists, says to them, 
** Stand by, I am holier than thou," — may we not .'^ay that such a 
one is worse than Diotrephes, who affected a pre-eminence, be- 
cause he desecrates the royal priesthood of Jesue^ Christ, and 
calls him common and unclean, who has been consecrated by 
the blood of the Son of God ? Such impiety can oxily be found 
among them who worship the beast, and who have covenanted 
and agreed that none shall buy or sell, save those who receive a 
mark on their foreheads and letters-patent in their hands. But 
allow common sense to whisper a word into the ears of priests' 
*' laymen," but Christ's ''royal priests J' Do you not thank Gcd 
for the cup while the priest stands by the table ; and do you not 
handle the loaf and cup when they come to you? And would not 
your thanksgiving have been as acceptable, if the human media- 
tor had not been there, and your participating as well pleasing to 
God, and as consolatory to yourself, if you had been the first that 

• Heb. iii. 6. f 1 Pet. ii. 5. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 307 

had handled the loaf or the cup, as when you are the second, or 
the fifty-second, in order of location? Let reason answer these 
two questions, and see what comes of the haughty assumptions 
of your Protestant clergy I ! But this only by the way. 

I trust it is apparent that the royal priesthood may approach 
the Lord^s table loithout fear, inasmuch as they are consecrated 
to ufficiate by a blood, as far superior to that which consecrated 
th.3 ^eshly priesthood, as the Lord's table, covered with the sacred 
emblems of the sacrifice of the Lord himself, is superior to the 
table which held only the twelve loaves of the presence ; and as 
they are, to say the least, called by as holy and divine an election, 
and are as cho::eri a race of priests, as were those sprung from the 
loins of Levi. 



Prop. V. — The one loaf must he broken before the saints feed upon 
it, which has obtained for this institution the name of " breaking 
the loafJ^ 

But some, doubtless, will ask, " Is it not called the Lord's sup- 
per V Some have thought, among whom is Dr. Bell, that 1 Cor. 
xi. 20 applies to the feasts of love or charity, rather than the 
showing forth of the Lord's death. These may read the pas- 
sage thus : — " But your coming together into one place is not to 
eat a Lord's supper ; for in eating it every one takes first his own 
supper ; alluding, as they suppose, to a love-feast eaten before tlie 
breaking the loafJ^ But this Lord's supper is contradistinguished 
from their own supper. And might, it not as reasonably be said, 
you cannot call jjour showing forth the Lord's death a Lord's 
supper ; for before eating it you have eat a supper of your own, 
which prevents you from making a supper of it ? You do not 
make it a Lord's supper, if you first eat your own supper. Nor, 
indeed, could the Corinthians call any eating the " Lord's sup- 
per,'^ conducted as was the eating of their own suppers ; for one 
eat and drank to excess, while another who was poor, or had no 
supper to bring, was hungry and put to shame. Could this be 
called a supper in honor of the Lord? 

But as the Lord had eaten a religious supper, had partaken of 
the paschal lamb with his disciples, before he instituted the 
breaking of the loaf, and drinking of the cup, as commemorative 
of his death, it seems improper to call it a supper ; for it was in- 
stituted and eaten after a supper. Not in the sense of one of the 
meals of the day, can it be called either dinner or supper: for it 



308 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

supplies the place of no meal. Deipnos, here rendered suppei^ in 
the days of Homer, represented breakfast.^" It also signified food 
in general or a feast. In the times of Demosthenes it signified 
a feast or an evening meaL But it is of more importance to ob- 
serve, that it is in the New Testament used figuratively as well 
as literally. Hence, we have the gospel blessings compared to 
a supper. We read of the *' marriage-supper of the Lamb,^' and 
** supper of the Great God.^' Jesus says, "If any man open to 
me, I will {deipneso) take supper with him and he with me.^' 
When thus used, it neither regards the time of da}^, nor the quan- 
tity eaten. If applied, then, to this institution, it is figuratively, 
as it is elsewhere called ''the feast.'' For not only did the Lord 
appoint it, but in eating it we have communion with the Lord. 
The same idiom, with the addition of the article, occurs in Reve- 
lation i. 10, " Ae kuriake liemera,'" the Lord's day. Upon the whole 
it appears more probable that the Apostle uses the words kuriakos 
deipnos, or Lord's supper, as applicable to the breaking of the 
loaf for which they gave thanks in honor of the Lord, than to 
their own supper or the feasts of love, usual among the brethren. 
If we say, in accordance with the Apostle's style, the Lord's day, 
the Lord's table, the Lord's cup, we may also say the Lord's sup- 
per. For in the Lord's house these are all sacred to him. 

As the calling of Bible things by Bible names is an important 
item in the present reformation, we may here take occasion to 
remark, that both "the Sacrament" and "the Eucharist" are of 
human origin. The former was a name adopted by the Latin 
church ; because the observance was supposed to be an oath or 
vow to the Lord ; and, as the term sacramentum signified an oath 
taken by a Roman soldier to be true to his general and his coun- 
try, they presumed to call this institution a sacrament or oath to 
the Lord. By the Greek church it is called the Eucharist, which 
word imports the giving of thanks, because, before participating, 
thanks were presented for the loaf and the cup. It is also called 
the communion, or 'Hhe communion of the saints;'' but this might 
indicate that it is exclusively the communion of saints ; and, 
therefore, it is more consistent to denominate it literally " the 
breaking of the loaf." But this is the only preliminary to the 
illustration and proof of our fifth proposition. 

AVe have said that the loaf must be broken before the saints 
partake of it. Jesus took a loaf from the paschal table and broke 

* Iliad, book ii. lines 381-399, and viii., lines 53-66. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 809 

It Lefore he gave it to his disciples. They received a broken 
loaf, emblematic of his body once whole, but by his own consent 
broken for his disciples. In eating it we then remember that the 
Lord's body was b}'' his own consent broken or wounded for us. 
Therefore, he that gives thanks for the loaf should break it not 
as the representative of the Lord, but after his example; and i.fter 
the disciples have partaken of this loaf, handing it to one another, 
or while they are partaking of it, the disciple who brake it par- 
takes with them of the broken loaf: thus they all have commu- 
nion with the Lord and with one another in eating the broken 
loaf. And thus they as priests feast upon his sacrifice. For the 
priests eat of the sacrifices and were thus partakers of the altar. 
The proof of all this is found in the institution given in Matthew 
xxvi., Mark xiv., Luke xxii., and 1 Cor. xi. In each of which his 
breaking of the loaf, after giving thanks, and before his disciples 
partook of it, is distinctly stated. 

It is not, therefore, strange, that the literal designation of this 
institution should be what Luke has given it in his Acts of the 
Apostles thirty years after its institution. The first time he no- 
tices it is Acts ii. 42, when he calls it emphatically ie Masei ton 
artou, the breaking of the loaf, a name at the time of his writing, 
A.D. 64, universally understood. For, says he, in recording the 
piety and devotion of the first converts, "they continued steadfast 
in the teaching of the Apostles, in the fellowship, in the breaking 
of the loaf in the prayers — praising God.^' It is true, there is more 
than breaking a loaf in this institution. But, in accordance with 
general if not universal usage, either that which is first or most 
prominent in laws, institutions, and usages, gives a name to them. 
Thus we have our Habeas Corpus, our Fieri Facias, our Nisi Prius, 
our Capias, our Venditioni Exponas, names given from the first 
words of the law. 

But to break a loaf, or to break bread, was a phrase common 
among the Jews to denote ordinary eating for refreshment. For 
example. Acts ii. 46: — *' Daily, with one accord, they continued in 
the temple and in breaking bread from house to house. They ate 
their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.^' Also, after 
Paul had restored Eutychus at Troas, we are informed he brake 
a loaf and ate. Here it must refer to himself, not only because 
it is used indefinitely, but because he that cats is in the same 
number with him that breaks a loaf. But when an established 
usage is referred to, the article or some definite term ascertains 
what is alluded to. Thus, Acts ii. 42, it is ''the breaking of the 



SIO THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM, 

loat/' And Acts xx. 7, it is "They assembled for tlie breaking 
of the loaf/^ This loaf is explained by Paul, 1 Cor. x. 16. 
^^The loaf which we break, is it not the communion of the body 
of Christ V This proposition being now, as we judge, sufficiently 
evident, we shall proceed to state our sixth. 



Prop. YI. — The breaking of the loaf and the drinking of the cnp 
are commemorative of the Lord's death. 

Upon the loaf and upon the cup of the Lord, in letters which 
speak not to the eye, but to the heart of every disciple, is in- 
scribed, ^'When this you see, remember me?' Indeed, the Lord 
says to each disciple, when he receives the symbols into his 
hand, " This is my body broken for ijoii. This is my blood shed 
for yoiiJ' The loaf is thus constituted a representation of his 
body— first whole, then wounded for our sins. The cup is thus 
instituted a representation of his blood — once his life, but now 
poured out to cleanse us from our sins. To every disciple he 
says, '*For you my body was wounded; for you my life was 
taken.^^ In receiving it the disciple says, "Lord, I believe it. My 
life sprung from thy suffering; my joy from thy sorrows; and my 
hope of glory everlasting from thy humiliation and abasement 
even to death. ^' Each disciple, in handing the symbols to his 
fellow-disciple, says, in effect, "You, my brother, once an alien, 
are now a citizen of heaven ; once a stranger, are now brought 
home to the family of God. You have owned my Lord as your 
Lord, my people as your people. Under Jesus the Messiah we 
are one. Mutually embraced in the Everlasting arms, I embrace 
you in mine : thy sorrows shall be my sorrows, and thy joys my 
joys. Joint debtors to the favor of God and the love of Jesus, 
we shall jointly suffer with him, that we may jointly reign with 
him. Let us, then, renew our strength, remember our King, and 
hold fast our boasted hope unshaken to the end/' 

'• Blest "be the tie that binds 
Our hearts in Christian love; 
The fellowship of kindred minds 
Is like to that above." 

Here he knows no man after the flesh. Ties that spring from 
eternal love, revealed in blood, and addressed to his senses, ,draw 
forth all that is within him of complacent affection and feeling 
to those joint heirs with him of the grace of eternal life. While 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 311 

it represents to him ^'ilie bread of life'^ — all the salvation of the 
Lord — it is the strength of his faith, the joy of his hope, and the 
life of his love."^ 

This institution commemorates the love which reconciled us to 
God, and always furnishes us with a new argument to live for 
him who died for us. Him who feels not the eloquence and power 
of this argument, all other arguments assail in vain. God*<i 
goodness, developed in creation and in his providence, is well 
designed to lead men to reformation. But the heart on which 
these fail, and to which Calvary appeals in vain, is past feeling, 
obdurate, and irreclaimable, beyond the operation of any moral 
power known to mortal man. 

Every time the disciples assemble around the Lord's table, 
they are furnished with a new argument also against sin, as well 
as with a new proof of the love of God. It is as well intended 
to crucify the world in our hearts, as to quicken us to God, and 
to diffuse his love within us. Hence it must in reason be a stated 
part of the Christian worship, in all Christian assemblies; which 
leads us to state, illustrate, and sustain the following capital pro- 
position, to which the preceding six are all preliminary. 



Prop. YII. — The breaking of the one loaf and the joint participa- 
tion of the cup of the Lord, in commemoration of the Lord's death, 
iisually called '*the Lord's Supper,'^ is an instituted part of the 
worship and edification of all Christian congregations in all their 
stated meetings. 

Argument 1. The first Christian congregation which met in 
Jerusalem, and which ^vas constituted by the twelve Apostles, 
did as statedly attend upon the breaking of the loaf in their pub- 
lic meetings, as they did upon any other part of the Christian 
w^orship. So Luke records. Acts ii. 42. *' They continued stead- 
fast in the Apostles' doctrine, in the fellowship, in the breaJcing of 
the loaf and in the prayers.^' Ought we not, then, to continue as 
steadfast in the breaking of the leaf, as in the teaching of the 
Apostles, as in the fellowship, as in the prayers commanded by 
the Apostles ? 

Argument 2. The Apostles taught the churches to do all the 
Lord commanded. Whatever, then, the churches did by the ap- 

* Christian Baptist, vol. iii. No. 1. In that volume, in the Fall of 1825, wers 
written four es&ijs on the breakiDj; of bread, which see. 



812 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

pointment or concurrence of the Apostles, they did by the com- 
mandment of Jesus Christ. Whatever acts of religious worship 
the Apostles taught and sanctioned in one Christian congregation, 
they taught and sanctioned in all Christian congregations, because 
all under the same government of one and the same King. But 
the church in Troas met upon the first day of the week, conse- 
quently all the churches met upon the first day of the week for 
religious purposes. 

Among the acts of worship, or the institutions of the Lord, to 
which the disciples attended in these meetings, the breaking of 
the loaf was so conspicuous and important, that the churches are 
said to meet on the first day of the week for this purpose. We 
are expressly told that the disciples at Troas met for this purpose ; 
and what one church did by the authority of the Lord, as a part 
of his instituted worship, they all did. That the disciples in 
Troas met for this purpose is not to be inferred ; for Luke says 
positively, (Acts xx. 7,) "And on the first day of the week, 
when the disciples came together for the breaking of the loaf, 
Paul, being about to depart on the morrow, discoursed with them, 
and lengthened out his discourse till midnight. ^^ From the man- 
ner in which this meeting of the disciples at Troas is mentioned 
by the historian, two things are very obvious : — 1st. That it was 
an established custom or rule for the disciples to meet on the first 
day of the week. 2d. That the primary object of their meeting 
was to break the loaf. They who object to breaking the loaf on 
the first day of every week when the disciples are assembled 
usually preface their objections by telling us, that Luke does not 
say they broke the loaf every first day ; and yet they contend 
against the Sabbatarians, that they ought to observe every first 
day to the Lord in commemoration of his resurrection. The 
Sabbatarians raise the same objection to this passage, when ad- 
duced by all professors of Christianity to authorize the weekly 
observance of the first day. They say that Luke does not tell 
us that they met for any religious purpose on every first day. 
How inconsistent, then, are they who make this sentence an ex- 
press precedent for observing every first day, when arguing 
against the Sabbatarians, and then turn round and tell us that it 
will not prove that they broke the loaf every ^v^t day! If it does 
not prove the one, it is most obvious it will not prove the other ; 
for the weekly observance of this day, as a day of the meeting 
of the disciples, and the weekly breaking of the loaf in those 
meetings, stand or fall together. Hear it again : — " And on the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 313 

first day of the week, when the disciples assembled to break the 
loaf.'' Now, all must confess, who regard the meaning of words, 
that the meeting of the disciples and the breaking of the loaf, as 
far as these words are concerned, are expressed in the same terms 
as respects the frequency. If the one was jifty-iwo times in a 
year, or only once, so was the other. If they met every first day, 
they broke the loaf every first day ; and if they did not break the 
loaf every first day, they did not meet every first day. But we 
argue from the style of Luke, or from his manner of narrating 
the fact, that they did both. If he had said that on a first day 
the disciples assembled to break the loaf, then I would admit that 
both the Sabbatarians, and the semi-annual or septennial commu- 
nicants, might find some way of explaining this evidence away. 

The definite article is, in the Greek and in the English tongue, 
prefixed to stated fixed times, and its appearance here is not 
merely definitive of one day, but expressive of a stated or fixed 
day. This is so in all languages which have a definite article. 
Let us illustrate this by a very parallel and plain case. Suppose 
some five hundred or one thousand years hence the annual obser- 
vance of the 4th of July should have ceased for several centuries, 
and that some person or persons devoted to the primitive institu- 
tions of this mighty republic were desirous of seeing the 4th of 
every July observed as did the fathers and founders of the republic 
during the hale and undegenerate days of primitive republican 
simplicity. Suppose that none of the records of the first century 
of this republic had expressly stated, that it was a regular and 
fixed custom for a certain class of citizens to pay a particular re- 
gard to the 4th day of every July; but that a few incidental ex- 
pressions in the biography of the leading men in the republic 
spoke of it as Luke has done of the meeting at Troas. How would 
it be managed? For instance, in the life of John Quincy Adams, 
it is written, a.d. 1823, "And on the 4th of July, when the re- 
publicans of the city of Washington met to dine, John Q. Adams 
delivered an oration to them.'^ Would not an American, a thou- 
sand years hence, in circumstances such as have been stated, find 
in these words one evidence that it was an established usage, 
during the first century of this republic, to regard the 4th of July 
as aforesaid ? He would tell his opponents to mark, that it was 
not said that on a fourth of July, as if it were a particular occur- 
rence ; but it was, in the fixed meaning of the English language, 
expressive of a fixed and stated day of peculiar observance. At 
all events, he could not fail in convincing the most stupid, that 

27 



314 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

fche primary intention of that meeting was to dine. Whatever 
might be the frequency or the intention of that dinner, it must be 
confessed, from the words above cited, that they met to dine. 

Another circumstance that must somewhat confound the Sab- 
batarians, and the lawless observers of the breaking of the loaf, 
may be easily gathered from Luke^s narrative. Paul and his 
company arrived at Troas either on the evening of the first day, 
or on Monday morning at an early hour ; for he departed on Mon- 
day morning, as we term it, at an early hour ; and we are posi- 
tively told that he tarried just seven days at Troas. Now, had 
the disciples been Sabbatarians, or observed the seventh day as 
a Sabbath, and broke the loaf on it as the Sabbatarians do, they 
would not have deferred their meeting till the first day, and kept 
Paul and his company waiting, as he was evidently in a great 
haste at this time. But his tarrying seven days, and his early 
departure on Monday morning, corroborates the evidence adduced 
in proof, that the first day of the week was the Jidxd and stated 
day, for the disciples to meet for this purpose."^ 

From the 2d of the Acts, then, we learn that the breaking of 
the loaf was a stated part of the worship of the disciples in their 
meetings ; and from the 20th we learn that the first day of the 
week was the stated time for those meetings ; and, above all, we 
ought to notice that the most prominent object of their meeting 
was to break the loaf. Other corroborating evidences of the 
stated meeting of the disciples on the first day for religious pur- 
poses are found in the fact, that Paul says he had given orders 
to all the congregations in Galatia, as well as that in Corinth, to 
attend to the fellowship, or the laying up of contributions for the 
poor saints on the first day of every week. *' On the first day of 
every week let each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as 
he may have prospered, putting it into the treasury, that when I 
come there may be no collections'' for the saints. Kata mian 
Sabbaton Macknight justly renders '^ first day of every week ;*^ 
for every linguist will admit that kata polin means every city ; 
kata menan, every month ; kata ecclesian, every church ; and there- 
fore, in the same usage, kata mian Sabbaton means the first day 
of every week. 

Now, this prepares the way for asserting not only that the dis- 
ciples in Troas assembled on the first day of every week for ** the 
breaking of the loaf," but also for adducing a third argument :— 

* Christian Baptist, pp. 211-212. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 315 

Argument 3. The congregation in Corinth met every first day, 
or the first day of every week, for showing forth the Lord^s death. 
Let the reader bear in mind that he has just heard that Paul com- 
manded the church in Corinth, or every saint in Corinth, to con- 
tribute according to his ability, by putting into the treasury every 
first day his contributions to avoid collections when Paul came. 
This is agreed on all hands to prove the weekly meeting of the 
saints. Now, with this concession in mind, we have only to 
notice what is said, chap. xi. 20. " When you come together in 
c»ie place, that is, every week at least, this is not to eat tJie Lord's 
supper. To act thus is unworthy the object of your meeting. To 
act thus is not to eat the Lord^s supper. It is not to show forth 
the Lord's death.'' Thereby declaring that this is the chief object 
of meeting. When the teacher reproves his pupils for wasting 
time, he cannot remind them more forcibly of the object of coming 
to school, nor reprove them with more point, than to say, ** When 
you act thus, this is not to assemble to learn." This is the 
exact import of the Apostle's address : — " When you assemble 
thus, it is not to eat the Lord's supper." We have seen, then, 
that the saints met every first day in Corinth ; and when they 
assembled in one place it was to eat the Lord's supper, a decla- 
ration of the practice of the primitive congregations as explicit 
as could incidentally be given, difiering only from a direct com- 
mand in the form in which it is expressed. But it is agreed on 
all hands, that whatsoever the congregations did with the ap- 
probation of the Apostles they did by their authority. For the 
Apostles gave them all the Christian institutions. Now, as the 
Apostle Paul approbated their meeting every week, and their 
coming together into one place to show forth the Lord's death, 
and only censured their departure from the meaning of the insti- 
tution, it is as high authority as we could require for the practice 
of the weekly meeting of the disciples. 

But when Acts ii. 42, Acts xx. 7, 1 Cor. xi. 20, and chap, 
xvi. 1, 2, are compared and added together, it appears that we 
act under the influence of apostolic teaching and precedent when 
we meet every Lord's day for the breaking of the loaf. But this 
is still further demonstratated by a fourth argument drawn from 
the following fact : — 

Argument 4. No argument can be adduced from the New Tes- 
tament of any Christian congregation assembling on the first day 
of the week, unless for the breaking of the loaf. Let an example 
be adduced by those who teach that Christians ought to meet 



8J6 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

on the first day of the week not to break the loaf, and then, but 
not till then, can they impugn the above fact. Till this is done, 
a denial of it must appear futile in the extreme. The argument, 
then, is, Christians have no authority, nor are under any obliga- 
tions, to meet on the Lord's day, from any thing which the Apos- 
tles said or practised, unless it be to show forth the Lord's death, 
and to attend to those means of edification and comfort connected 
with it. 

Argument 5. If it be not the duty and privilege of every Chris- 
tian congregation to assemble on the first day of every week to 
show forth the Lord's death, it will be difficult, if not impossible, 
from either Scripture or reason, to show that it is their duty or 
privilege to meet monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, or 
indeed at all, for this purpose. For from what premises can any 
person show that it is a duty or privilege to assemble monthly, 
which will not prove that it is obligatory to meet weekly ? We 
challenge investigation here, and affirm that no man can produce 
a single reason why it should or could be a duty or a privilege 
for a congregation to meet monthly, quarterly, or annually, which 
will not prove that it is its duty and privilege to assemble every 
first day for this purpose. 

Argument 6. Spiritual health, as well as corporal health, is 
dependent on food. It is requisite for corporal health, that the 
food not only be salutary in its nature and sufficient in its quan- 
tity, but that it be received at proper intervals, and these regular 
and fixed. Is it otherwise with moral health ? Is there no ana- 
logy between the bread that perishes, and. the bread of life? Is 
there no analogy between natural and moral life— between natural 
and moral health ? and, if there be, does it not follow, that if the 
primitive disciples only enjoyed good moral health when they 
assembled weekly to show forth the Lord's death, they cannot 
enjoy good moral health who only meet quarterly or semi-annu- 
ally for this purpose ? 

Argument 7. But in the last place, what commemorative insti- 
tution, in any age, under any religious economy, was ordained 
by divine authority, which had not a fixed time for its observance ? 
Was it the commemoration of the finishing of Creation signified 
in the weekly Sabbath ? Was it the Passover, the Pentecost, the 
Feast of Tabernacles ? Was it the Feast of Purim either ? What 
other significant usage was it, the times or occasions of whose 
observance were not fixed ? How often was circumcision to be 
administered to the same subject? How often Christian immer- 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 317 

sion ? Is there a single institution commemorative of any thing, 
the meaning or frequency of the observance of which is not 
distinctly, either by precept or example, laid down in the Holy 
Scriptures ? Not one of a social character, and scarcely one of an 
individual character. The commemoration of the Lord^s death 
must, then, be a weekly institution — an institution in all the 
meetings of the disciples for Christian worship ; or it must be an 
anomaly — a thing sui generis — an institution like no other of di- 
vine origin. And can any one tell why Christians should cele- 
brate the Lord's resurrection fifty-two times in a year, and his 
death only once, twice, or twelve times ? He that can do this will 
not be lacking in a lively imagination, however defective he may 
be in judgment or in an acquaintance with the New Testament. 

Having written so much on this subject formerly, I shall now 
introduce a few persons out of the many men of renown who, 
since the Reformation, have plead this cause. We shall not only 
introduce them to our readers, but we shall let them speak to 
them. 

Jolm Brown, of Haddington, author of the Dictionary of the 
Bible, and teacher of theology for that branch of the Presbyte- 
rian church called the ''' Secession,^ ^ has written a treatise on this 
subject. "We shall give him the task of stating and removing 
the objections to this apostolic institution. The reader will per- 
ceive that there are many impurities in his style ; and, although 
his speech betrays that he has been in Ashdod, still, his argu- 
ments are weighty and powerful. 

He offers various arguments for the weekly observance of this 
institution, and states and refutes nine objections to the practice. 
A few of these strongest we shall quote : — 

" All the arguments I ever knew advanced in support of the 
unfrequent administration of the Lord's supper appear to me al- 
together destitute of force. The following are the principal : — 

^^ Objection!. The frequent administration of this ordinance, 
in the apostolic and primitive ages of Christianity, was com- 
mendable and necessary, because the continual persecutions that 
then raged gave them ground to fear that every Sabbath might 
be their last ; whereas now we are not in such danger, and there- 
fore need not so frequent use of this ordinance. 

^^ Answer. Ought we not still to live as if every Sabbath were 
to be our last ? Have we now a lease #f our life more than these 
had ? Did not many Christians in these times live to as great an 
age as we do now ? Indeed, is it not evident, from the best his- 



818 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM 

torians, that the church was generally under no persecution above 
one-third of the time that weekly communion was practised? 
But, say they had been constantly exposed to the crudest perse- 
cutijn, the objection becomes still more absurd. If they attended 
this ordinance weekly at the peril of their lives, does it follow 
that now, when God gives us greater and better opportunity for 
it, we ought to omit it ? Does God require the greatest work at 
his people^s hands, when he gives least opportunity? Or does 
he require least work, when he gives the greatest opportunity for 
it? What kind of a master must God be, if this were the case? 
Besides, do not men need this ordinance to preserve them from 
the influence of the world's smiles as much as of its frowns ?" — . 
" Let us invert this objection, and try if it has not more force. It 
would then run thus : — The primitive Christians received the Lord's 
supper weekly, as their souls were in greater danger from the 
smiles and allurements of the world, which are usually found 
more hurtful to men's spiritual concerns than its frowns ; and as 
they had greater opportunity for doing so by their enjoying peace 
and liberty; yet this frequency of administering and partaking is 
not requisite now, as we, being under the world's frowns, are in 
less hazard as to our spiritual concerns ; and especially as we 
cannot attend upon it but at the peril of our lives, God having 
expressly declared that he loves mercy better than sacrifice. 

^^ Objection 2. The primitive and reforming times were seasons 
of great spiritual liveliness, and of large communications of di- 
vine influences to the souls of believers ; whereas it is quite 
otherwise now. Therefore, though frequent administration was 
then commendable ; yet, in our languishing decayed state, it is 
unnecessary. 

'^Answer. Ought we to repair seldom to the wells of salvation, 
because we can bring but little water at once from them ? Ought 
we seldom to endeavor to fill our pitchers at the fountain of living 
waters, because they are small ? Is not this ordinance a cordial 
for restoring the languishing, strengthening the week, recovering 
the sick, and reviving the dying believer? How reasonable, then, 
is it to argue that languishing, weak, sick, and dying believers 
must not have it often administered to them, just because they 
are not in perfect health?" — "Would not the objection inverted 
read better? The primitive Christians had this ordinance fre- 
quently administered to them, because, being decayed and with- 
ered, weak and sickly, and receiving only scanty communications 
of divine influence at once, it was necessary for them to be often 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 319 

taking new meals; whereas, we, being now strong and lively 
Christians, and receiving on these occasions such large supplies 
of grace as are sufficient to enable us to walk many days under 
their powerful influence, have no occasion for so frequently at 
tending on that ordinance, which is especially calculated foi 
strengthening languishing, weak, sickly believers. 

''Objection 3. If the Lord's supper were frequently adminis- 
tered, it would become less solemn, and, in time, quite contempt- 
ible, as we see is the case with baptism, through the frequency 
of the administration of that ordinance. 

^'Answer. Is this mean of keeping up the credit of the Lord's 
supper, of God's devising or not ? If it is, where is that part of 
his word that warrants it ? The contrary I have already proved 
from Scripture. Since, then, it is only of man's invention, what 
ground is there to hope it will really maintain the credit and 
solemnity of the ordinance ? Did not the Papists of old pretend 
to maintain and advance its solemnity, by reduction of the fre- 
quency of administration ? Did they not take away the cup from 
the people, which Calvin says was the native consequence of the 
former? Did they not annex the administration of this ordinance 
to those 'seasons which superstition had aggrandized; namely, 
Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas ? Did they not annex a world 
of ceremonies to it? Did they not pretend that it was a real 
sacrifice, and that the elements were changed by consecration 
into the real body and blood of Christ? And did all this tend to 
the support of the proper credit of this ordinance? On the con- 
trary, did it not destroy it? Though the doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation procured a kind of reverence for it, yet, was this reverence 
divine ? or was it not rather devilish, in worshipping the ele- 
ments ? Now, how are we sure that our unfrequent administration 
of this ordinance will more effectually support its solemnity? Is 
it not strange that we should have so much encouragement from 
the practice of the Apostles, the primitive Christians, and the 
whole of the reformed churches, to profane this solemn ordinance ; 
while the most ignorant and abandoned Papists are our original 
pattern for the course that tends to support its proper honor and 
credit? What a strange case this must be, if, in order to support 
the credit of God's ordinance, we must forsake the footsteps of the 
flock, and walk in the paths originally chalked out by the most 
ignorant and wicked antichristians ! 

** Besides, if our unfrequent administration of this ordinance 
render it solemn, would it not become much more so, if ad- 



320 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

ministered only once in seven, ten, twenty, thirty, sixty, or a 
liundred years? — " Shall we not then find that those who pray 
once a month, or hear a sermon once a year, have their minds far 
more religiously impressed with solemn views of God, than those 
who pray seven times a day, and hear a hundred sermons within 
the year? 

*' Let us invert this objection, and see how it stands. All human 
devices to render God's ordinances more solemn are impeach- 
ments of his wisdom, and have always tended to bring the ordi- 
nances into contempt. But unfrequent administration of the 
supper is a human device, first invented by the worst of Papists^ 
and therefore it tends to bring contempt on this ordinance, as we 
see sadly verified in the practice of those who voluntarily com- 
municate seldom/^ 

The means by which the weekly observance of the supper was 
set aside Mr. Brown states in the following words :^- 

" The means by which the unfrequent administration of this 
ordinance appears to me to have been introduced into the church 
do not savor of the God of truth. The causes that occasioned its 
introduction appear to have been pride, superstition, covetoiisness, 
and carnal complaisance. The Eastern hermits, retiring 'from the 
society of men, had taken up their residence in deserts and moun- 
tains, and, being far removed from the places of its administration, 
seldom attended. This, though really the effect of their sloth 
and distance, they pretended to arise from their regard and reve- 
rence for this most solemn ordinance. It being easy to imitate 
them in this imaginary holiness, which lay in neglecting the ordi- 
nances of God, many of the Eastern Christians left off to commu- 
nicate, except at such times as superstition had rendered solemn, 
as at Pasch ; and contented themselves with being spectators on 
other occasions. On account of this practice, we find the great 
and eloquent Chrysostom, once and again, bitterly exclaiming 
against them as guilty of the highest contempt of God and Christ; 
and calls their practice a most wicked custom." 

An objection not formally stated by Mr. Brown, which I have fre- 
quently heard, is drawn from the words, '^as often as you do this, do 
it in remembrance of me.'' From these words it is plead that we 
are without law in regard to time how often ; and consequently 
cannot be condemned for a partial or total neglect; for "wh^re 
there is no law, there is no transgression." *'As often'' is used 
not to license the frequency, but to denote the manner. "Always 
do it in remembrance >f me." The connection in which these 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 821 

words occur regarding the manner or design of the observance, 
and not how often it may or may not be celebrated, it is a viola- 
tion of every rule of interpretation to infer another matter from 
them, which was not in the eye of the Apostle. Besides, if the 
words "as oft^^ leave it discretionary with any society how often, 
they are blameless if they never once, or more than once, in all 
their lives, show forth the Saviour's death. This interpretation 
makes an observance ^without reason, without law, without pre- 
cedent, and consequently without obligation. 

Next to Mr. Brown, we shall introduce a few extracts from 
William King, Archbishop of Dublin. The editors of the Chris- 
tian Examiner presented a very valuable extract from Mr. King, 
in their 7th of May number of the 1st volume, from which I 
quote the following, pp. 163, 165, 166, 167: — 

"The following remarks on this institution of our Sariour are 
copied from a ^Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the 
worship of God,^ by William King, of Ireland. He was born at 
Antrim, 1650; educated at Trinity College, Dublin; and held suc- 
cessively the dignities of Dean of St. Patrick's, Bishop of Derry, 
and Archbishop of Dublin. He died in 1729. His method in 
this discourse is to examine and compare the worship of God, as 
taught in the Scriptures, with the practice of the different religious 
sects of the day: — 

"Christ's positive command to do this in remembrance of him, 
&c. must oblige us in some times and in some places ; and there 
can be no better way of determining when we are obliged to do 
it than by observing when God in his goodness gives us oppor- 
tunity ; for either we are then obliged to do it, or else we may 
choose whether we will ever do it or no ; there being no better 
means of determining the frequency, than this of God's giving us 
the opportunity. And the same rule holding in all other gene- 
ral positive commands, such as those that oblige us to charity, 
we may be sure it holds likewise in this. Therefore, whoever 
slights or neglects any opportunity of receiving which God affords 
him does sin, as certainly as he who, being enabled by God to 
perform an act of charity, and invited by a fit object, neglects to 
relieve him, or shuts up his bowels of compassion against him 
concerning whom the Scriptures assure us that the love of God 
dwells not in him. And the argument is rather stronger against 
him who neglects this holy ordinance; for how can it be supposed 
that man has a true love for his Saviour, or a due sense of hia 
sufferings, who refuses or neglects to remember the greatest of 



322 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

all benefits, in the easiest manner, though commanded to do it 
by his Redeemer, and invited by a fair opportunity of God's own 
offering ? 

"It is manifest, that if it be not our own faults, we may have an 
opportunity every Lord's day when we meet together ; and, there- 
fore, that church is guilty of laying aside the command, whose 
order and worship doth not require and provide for this practice. 
Christ's command seems to lead us directly to it: for* Do this in 
remembrance of me' implies that Christ was to leave them ; that 
they were to meet together after he was gone ; and that he re- 
quired them to remember Mm at tJieir meetings whilst he was absent. 
The very design of our public meetings on the Lord's day, and not 
on the Jewish Sabbath, is, to remember and keep in our minds a 
sense of what Christ did and suffered for us till he come again, 
and this we are obliged to do, not in such a manner as our own 
inventions suggest, but by such means as Christ himself has pre- 
scribed to us ; that is, by celebrating this holy ordinance. 

"It seems then probable, from the very institution of this ordi- 
nance, that our Saviour designed it should be a part of God's ser- 
vice in all the solemn assemblies of Christians, as the passover 
was in the assemblies of the Jews. To know, therefore, how 
©ften Christ requires us to celebrate this feast, we have no more 
to do but to inquire how often Christ requires us to meet to- 
gether ; that is, at least every Lord's day.' " 

We shall next introduce an American Rabbi, of very great ce- 
lebrity. Dr. John Mason, of New York. The passages which I 
quote are found in a note attached to the 188th page of the New 
York edition of Fuller's Strictures on Sandemanianism : — 

"Mr. Fuller does not deny that the Lord's supper was observed 
by the first Christians every Lord's day, (nor will this be denied 
by any man who has candidly investigated the subject ;) but he 
seems to think that Acts xx. 7 does not prove that it was so. 
Others, eminent for piety and depth of research, have considered 
this passage as affording a complete proof of the weekly observ- 
ance of the Lord's supper. Dr. Scott, in his valuable Commen- 
tary, observes on this passage — ^Breaking of bread, or commemo- 
rating the death of Christ in the eucharist, was one chief end of 
their assembling ; this ordinance seems to have been constantly 
administered every Lord's day, and probably no professed Chris- 
tians absented themselves from it, after they had been admitted 
into the church, unless they lay under some censure, or had some 
real hinderance/ 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 323 

"Dr. Mason, of this city, in his Letters on Frequent Communion, 
Bpeaks on this subject with still greater decision. *It is notorious, 
that during the first three centuries of the Christian era commu- 
nions were held, with the frequency of which, among us, we have 
neither example nor resemblance. It is also notorious, that it has 
been urged as a weighty duty by the best of men, and the best 
churches, in the best of times. 

*' Weekly communions did not die with the Apostles and their 
contemporaries. There is a cloud of witnesses to testify that they 
were kept up by succeeding Christians, with great care and ten- 
derness, for above two centuries. It is not necessary to swell these 
pages with quotations. The fact is indisputable. 

" Communion every Lord's day was universal, and was pre- 
served in the Greek church till the seventh century ; and such as 
neglected tJiree weeks together were excommunicated. 

** In this manner did the spirit of ancient piety cherish the 
memory of the Saviour^s love. There was no need of reproof, 
remonstrance, or entreaty. No trifling excuses for neglect were 
ever heard from the lips of a Christian ; for such a neglect had not 
yet degraded the Christianas name. He carried in his own bosom 
sufficient inducements to obey, without reluctance, the precepts 
of his Lord. It was his choice, his consolation, his joy. These 
were days of life and glory ; but days of dishonor and death were 
shortly to succeed ; nor was there a more ominous symptom of 
their approach, than the decline of frequent communicating. For 
as the power of religion appears in a solicitude to magnify the 
Lord Jesus continually, so the decay of it is first detected by the 
encroachments of indifi'erence. It was in the fourth century, that 
the church began very discernibly to forsake her first love. 

*' The excellent Calvin complains that in this day professors, 
conceiting that they had fully discharged their duty by a single 
communion, resigned themselves for the rest of the year to supine- 
ness and sloth. It ought to have been (says he) far otherwise. 
Fvery week, at least, the table of the Lord should have been spread 
for Christian assemblies ; and the promises declared, by which, 
partaking of it, we might be spiritually fed.^ ^^^ 

We shall now hear the celebrated John Wesley. After Jifty^ 
Jive years' reflection upon the subject, he decides that Christiana 
should show forth the Lord's death every Lord's day. He pre- 
taces the 106th Sermon, Luke xxii. 19, with this remark: — 

* Mason's Letters on Frequent Communion, pp. 34, 85, 36, 37, 38, and 52, Ediii' 
tz.r^ edition, 1799. 



P24 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

"This discourse was written above five-and-fifty years ago, for 
the use of iny pupils at Oxford. 1 have added very little, but re- 
trenched much; as I then used more words than I now do. But, 
I thank God, I have not yet seen cause to alter my sentiments in 
any point which is therein delivered.^' 

The sermon is entitled "The Duty of Constant Communion,'' 
concerning which the reformer says, — 

"It is no wonder that men who have no fear of God should 
never think of doing this. But it is strange that it should be 
neglected by any that do fear God, and desire to save their souls ; 
and yet nothing is more common. One reason why many neglect 
it is, they are so much afraid of eating and drinking unwortMly, 
that they never think how much greater the danger is when they 
do not eat or drink at all.'' 

In speaking of constantly receiving the supper, Mr. Wesley 
says,— 

"I say constantly receiving; for as to the ^hrd^^Q frequent com- 
munion, it is absurd to the last degree. If it means any thing 
else but constant, it means more than can be proved to be the 
duty of any man. Eor if we are not obliged to communicate con- 
stantly, by what argument can it be proved that we are obliged 
to coT[iVL\\xxi\Q,2iXQ frequently ? yea, more than once a year? or once 
in seven years ? or once before we die? Every argument brought 
for this either proves that we ought to do it constantly, or proves 
nothing at all. Therefore, that undeterminate, unmeaning way 
of speaking ought to be laid aside by all men of understanding. 
Our poM'er is the only rule of our duty. Whatever we can do, 
that we ought. With respect either to this or any other com- 
mand, he that, when he may obey if he will, does not, will have 
no place in the kingdom of heaven." 

Though we may have some objections to the style in which 
John Wesley speaks of the meaning of this institution, as we 
have indeed to that of all the others from whom we have quL>ted, 
yet we would recommend to the whole Methodistic community 
the close perusal of the above sermon. It will be found vol iii. 
pp. 171-179. 

The Elders among the Methodists, with whom John Wesley is 
such high authority, we would remind of his advice, found in his 
Letter to America, 1784, lately quoted in the "Gospel Herald," 
Lexington, Ky. "I also advise the elders to administer thb 

BUFFER OF THE LORD ON EVERY LoRD's DAY." 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 325 

So much for John Brown, John Mason, and John Wesley, and 
the authorities which they quoted. AVhile quoting the sayings of 
the Johns, I am reminded of something said by the great John 
Milton, the ''immortal bard^^ of England. In his posthumous 
works he says, *'The Lord's supper (which the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation, or rather anthropophagy, has wellnigh converted 
into a banquet of cannibals) is essential to be observed, and may 
be administered by any one with propriety, as well as by an ap- 
pointed minister. There is no order of men which can claim to 
itself either the right of distribution, or the power of withholding 
the sacred elements, seeing that in the church we are all alike 
priests.'^ ** The master of a family, or any one appointed by him, 
is at liberty to celebrate the Lord's supper from house to house, 
as was done in the dispensation of the passover.'' *' All Christians 
are a royal priesthood : therefore, any believer is competent to act 
as an ordinary minister according as convenience may require ; 
provided only, he be endowed with the necessary gifts : these 
gifts constituting his commission.'' Thus did the famous Milton 
make way for the weekly observance of the supper, by divesting 
it of the priestly appendages and penances of the dark ages. 

A cloud of witnesses to the plainness and evidence of the New 
Testament on the subject of the weekly celebration of the Lord's 
supper might be adduced. But this we think unnecessary; and, 
as we would avoid prolixity and tediousness, we shall only add a 
few extracts from the third volume of the Christian Baptist, 2d 
ed. p. 254, in proof of the assertion, ^^All antiqidty is on the side 
of the disciples meeting every first day to break the loaf J' 

All antiquity concurs in evincing that, for the thi^ee first centu- 
ries, all the churches broke bread once a week. Pliny, in his 
."Epistles, book x. ; Justin Martyr, in his Second Apology for the 
Christians ; and Tertullian, De Ora., page 135, testify that it was 
the universal practice in all the weekly assemblies of the brethren, 
after they had prayed and sung praises. " The bread and wine 
being brought to the chief brother, he taketh it and offereth praise 
and thanksgiving to the Father, in the name of the Son and Holy 
Spirit. After prayer and thanksgiving, the whole assembly saith. 
Amen! When thanksgiving is ended by the chief guide, and the 
consent of the whole people, the deacons (as we call them) give to 
every one present part of the bread and wine, over which thanks 
are given." 

** The weekly communion was prepared in the Greek church 



S26 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

till the seventh century ; and, by one of their canons, *such as 
neglected three weeks together were excommunicated/^ 

"In the fourth century, when all things began to be changed by 
baptized pagans, the practice began to decline. Some of the 
councils in the western part of the Roman empire, by their canons, 
strove to keep it up. The council held at lUiberis in Spain, a.d. 
324, decreed that * no offerings should be received from such as 
did not receive the Lord^s supper. 'f 

** The council at Antioch, a.d. 341, decreed that * all who 
came to church, and heard the Scriptures read, but afterwards 
joined not in prayer, and receiving the sacrament, should be cast 
out of the church, till such time as they give public proof of their 
repentance.'^ 

''All these canons were unable to keep the carnal crowd of pro- 
fessors in a practice for which they had no spiritual taste ; and, 
indeed, it was likely to get out of use altogether. To prevent 
this, the Council of Agatha, in Languedoc, a.d. 506, decreed 
that * none should be esteemed good Christians who did not com- 
municate at least three times a year, — at Christmas, Easter, and 
Whitsunday.' II This soon became the standard of a good Chris- 
tian, and it was judged presumptuous to commune oftener. 

"Things went on in this way for more than six hundred years, 
until they got tired of even three communications in one year ; and 
the infamous Council of Lateran, which decreed auricular confes- 
sion and transubstantiation, decreed that * an annual communion 
at Easter was sufficient.' This association of the * sacrament' 
with Easter, and the mechanical devotion of the ignorant at this 
season, greatly contributed to the worship of the Host.? Thus 
the breaking of bread in simplicity and godly sincerity once a 
week degenerated into a pompous sacrament once a year, at 
Easter. 

"At the Reformation this subject was but slightly investigated 
by the reformers. Some of them, however, paid some attention 
to it. Even Calvin, in his Institutes, lib. 4, chap. xvii. sect. 46, 
says, 'And truly this custom, which enjoins communicating once 
a year, is a most evident contrivance of the Devil, by whose instru- 
mentality soever it may have been determined.' 

"And again, (Inst., lib. 6, chap, xviii. sect. 56,) he says, 'It 
ought to have been far otherwise. Every week, at least, the table 

* Erskine's Dissertations, page 271. f Council Illiberis, Can. 28» 

X Council Antioch, Can. 2. || Coun. Agatha, Can. 18. 

§ Bingham's Ori., lib. xv. c. 9. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 327 

of the Lord should have been spread for Christian assemblies, 
and the promises declared by which, in partaking of it, we might 
be spiritually fed/ 

"Martin Chemnitz, Witsius, Calderwood, and others of the 
reformers and controversialists, concur with Calvin ; and, indeed, 
almost every commentator on the New Testament concurs with 
the Presbyterian Henry in these remarks on Acts xx. 7. * In the 
primitive times it was the custom of many churches to receive 
the Lord's supper every Lord's day/ 

" The Belgic reformed church, in 1581, appointed the supper to 
be received every other month. The reformed churches of France, 
after saying that they had been too remiss in observing the supper 
but four times a year, advise a greater frequency . The church of 
Scotland began with four sacraments in a year ; but some of her 
ministers got up to twelve times. Thus things stood till the close 
of the last century. 

" Since the commencement of the present century, many con- 
gregations in England, Scotland, Ireland, and some in the United 
States and Canada, both Independents and Baptists, have at- 
tended upon the supper every Lord's day, and the practice is 
every day gaining ground. 

" These historical notices may be of some use to those who are 
ever and anon crying out Innovation ! Innovation ! But we advo- 
cate the principle and the practice on apostolic grounds alone. 
Blessed is that servant who, knowing his Master's will, doeth it 
with expedition and delight ! 

" Those who would wish to see an able refutation of the Pres- 
byterian mode of observing the sacrament, and a defence of weekly 
communion, would do well to read Dr. John Mason's * Letters on 
Frequent Communion,' who is himself a high-toned Presbyterian, 
and consequently his remarks will be more regarded by his 
brethren than mine." 

Thus our seventh proposition is sustained by the explicit de- 
clarations of the New Testament, by the reasonableness of the 
thing itself when suggested by the Apostles, by analogy, by the 
conclusions of the most eminent reformers, and by the concurrent 
voice of all Christian antiquity. But on the plain sayings of the 
Lord and his Apostles, we rely for authority and instruction upon 
this and every other Christian institution. 

It does, indeed, appear somewhat incongruous, that arguments 
should have to be submitted to urge Christians to convene weekly 
around the Lord's table. Much more in accordance with the 



328 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

genius of our religion would it be, to see them over-solicitous tc 
be honored with a seat at the King's table, and asking with in- 
tense interest, might they be permitted so often to eat in his 
presence, and in honor of his love. To have to withstand their 
daily convocations for this purpose would not be a task so un- 
natural and so unreasonable, as to have to reason and expostulate 
with them to urge them to assemble for weekly communion. 

But, as the want of appetite for our animal sustenance is a 
symptom of ill health, or approaching disease; so a want of relish 
for spiritual food is indicative of a want of spiritual health, or of 
the presence of a moral disease, which, if not healed, must issue 
in apostasy from the Living Head. Hence, among the most un- 
equivocal prognosis of a spiritual decline, the most decisive is a 
want of appetite for the nourishment which the Good Physician 
prepared and prescribed for his family. A healthy and vigorous 
Christian excluded from the use and enjoyment of all the pro- 
visions of the Lord's house cannot be found. 

But much depends upon the manner of celebrating the supper, 
as well as upon the frequency. The simplicity of the Christian 
institution runs through every part of it. While there is the form 
of doing every thing, there is all attention to the thing signified. 
But there is the form as well as the substance, and every thing 
that is done must be done in some manner. The well-bred Chris- 
tian is like the well-bred gentleman — his manners are graceful, 
easy, artless, and simple. All stiffness and forced formality are 
as graceless in the Christian as in the gentleman. A courteous 
and polite family differs exceedingly from a soldier's messmates 
or a ship's crew, in all the ceremonies of the table. There is a 
Christian decency and a Christian order, as well as political 
courtesy and complaisance. 

Nothing is more disgusting than mimicry. It is hypocrisy in 
manners, which,, like hypocrisy in religion, is more odious than 
apathy or vulgarity. There is a saintishness in demeanor and 
appearance, which differs as much from sanctity, as foppery from 
politeness. The appearance of sanctimoniousness is as much to 
be avoided as actual licentiousness of morals. An austere and 
rigid Pharisaism sits as awkwardly upon a Christian, as a mourn- 
ing habit upon a bride. Cheerfulness is not mirth — solemnity is 
not Pharisaism — joy is not noise — nor eating, festivity. 

But to act right in any thing, we must feel right. If we would 
show love, we must first possess it. If a person would walk 
humbly, he must be humble : and if one would act the Christian 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. oZ9 

on any occasion, he must always live the Christian. Persons 
who daily converse with God, and who constantly meditate upon 
his salvation, will not need to be told how they should demean 
themselves at the Lord's table. 

The following extract from my memorandum-book furnishes 
the nighest approach to the model which we have in our eye of 
good order and Christian decency in celebrating this institution. 
Indeed, the whole order of that congregation was comely: — 

*' The church in consisted of about fifty members. Not 

having any person whom they regarded as filling Paul's outlines 
of a bishop, they had appointed two senior members, of a very 
grave deportment, to preside in their meetings. These persons 
were not competent to labor in the word and teaching ; but they 
were qualified to rule well, and to preside with Christian dignity. 
One of them presided at each meeting. After they had assem- 
bled in the morning, which was at eleven o'clock, (for they had 
agreed to meet at eleven and to adjourn at two o'clock during the 
winter season,) and after they had saluted one another in a very 
familiar and cordial manner, as brethren are wont to do who meet 
for social purposes ; the president for the day arose and said, 
* Brethren, being assembled in the name and by the authority of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on this day of his resurrec- 
tion, let us unite in celebrating his praise.^ He then repeated 
the following stanza : — 

" ' Christ the Lord is risen to day ! 
Sons of men and angels say ; 
Raise your joys and triumphs high, 
Sing, heavens ! and, earth, reply I' 

"The congregation arose and sang this psalm in animating 
strains. He then called upon a brother, who was a very distinct 
and emphatic reader, to read a section of the evangelical history. 
He arose and read, in a very audible voice, the history of the 
crucifixion of the Messiah. After a pause of a few moments, the 
president called upon a brother to pray in the name of the con- 
gregation. His prayer abounded with thanksgivings to the Father 
of Mercies, and with supplications for such blessings on them- 
selves and for all men as were promised to those who ask, or for 
which men were commanded to pray. The language was very 
appropriate : no unmeaning repetitions, no labor of words, no 
efibrt to say any thing and every thing that came into his mind ; 
• but to express slowly, distinctly, and emphatically, the desires 

28* 



330 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

of the heart. The prayer was comparatively short; and the whole 
congregation, brethren and sisters, pronounced aloud the final 
Amen. 

** After prayer a passage in one of the Epistles was read by the 
president himself, and a song was called for. A brother arose, 
and, after naming the page, repeated, — 

Twas on that night when doom'd to know 
The eager rage of every foe ; — 
That night in which he was betray'd, — 
The Saviour of the world took.hread.' 

" He then sat down, and the congregation sang with much 
feeling. 

" I observed that the table was furnished before the disciples 
met in the morning, and that the disciples occupied a few benches 
on each side of it, while the strangers sat off on seats more re- 
mote. The president arose and said that our Lord had a table for 
his friends, and that he invited his disciples to sup with him. * In' 
memory of his death, this monumental table, ^ said he, 'was in- 
stituted ; and as the Lord ever lives in heaven, so he ever lives in 
the hearts of his people. As the first disciples, taught by the 
Apostles in person, came together into one place to eat the Lord^s 
supper, and as they selected the first day of the week in honor 
of his resurrection, for this purpose ; so we, having the same 
Lord, the same faith, the same hope with them, have vowed to do 
as they did. We owe as much to the Lord as they ; and ought 
to love, honor, and obey him as much as they.' Thus having 
spoken, he took a small loaf from the table, and in one or two 
periods gave thanks for it. After thanksgiving, he raised it in his 
hand, and significantly brake it, and handed it to the disciples on 
each side of him, who passed the broken loaf from one to another, 
until they all partook of it. There was no stiffness, no formality, 
no pageantry; all was easy, familiar, solemn, cheerful. He then 
took the cup in a similar manner, and returned thanks for it, and 
handed it to the disciple sitting next to him, who passed it round ; 
each one waiting upon his brother, until all were served. The 
thanksgiving before the breaking of the loaf, and the distributing 
of the cup, v^ere as brief and pertinent to the occasion, as the 
thanks usually presented at a common table for the ordinary bless- 
ings of God's bounty. They then arose, and w ith one consent 
sang,— 

" ' To him that loved the sons of men, 

And wash'd us in his blood ; 

To royal honors raised our heads, 

And made us priests to God!' 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 331 

**The president of the meeting called upon a brother to remem- 
ber the poor, and those ignorant of the way of life, before the 
Lord. He kneeled down, and the brethren all united with him in 
supplicating the Father of Mercies in behalf of all the sons and 
daughters of aflliction, the poor and the destitute, and in behalf 
of the conversion of the world. After this prayer the fellowship 
or contribution was attended to; and the whole church proved the 
sincerity of their desires, by the cheerfulness and liberality which 
they seemed to evince, in putting into the treasury as the Lord 
had prospered them. 

" A general invitation was tendered to all the brotherhood if 
they had any thing to propose or inquire, tending to the edifica- 
tion of the body. Several brethren arose in succession, and read 
several passages in the Old and New Testaments, relative to 
some matters which had been subjects of former investigation 
and inquiry. Sundry remarks were made; and after singing 
several spiritual songs selected by the brethren, the president, on 
motion of a brother who signified that the hour of adjournment 
had arrived, concluded the meeting by pronouncing the apostolic 
benediction. 

' ** I understand that all these items were attended to in all their 
meetings; yet the order of attendance was not invariably the 
same. On all the occasions on which I was present with them, 
no person arose to speak without invitation, or without asking 
permission of the president, and no person finally left the meeting 
before the hour of adjournment, without special leave. Nothing 
appeared to be done in a formal or ceremonious manner. Every 
thing exhibited the power of godliness as well as the form ; and 
no person could attend to all that passed without being edified 
and convinced that the Spirit of God was there. The joy, the 
afiection, and the reverence which appeared in this little assem- 
bly was the strongest argument in favor of their order, and the 
best comment on the excellency of the Christian institution/' 



332 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 



CONCLUDING ADDRESSES. 

ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM. 
p£lJ.OW-ClTIZENS: — 

Yjur rank and standing under the reign of the Prince of 
Peace have never been surpassed — indeed, have never been 
equalled — by any portion of the human race. You have visions 
and revelations of God — his being and perfection — develop- 
ments of the depths of his wisdom and knowledge, of the coun- 
sels of his grace, and the purposes of his love, which give you 
an intellectual and moral superiority above all your predecessors 
in the patriarchal and Jewish ages of the world. Secrets of 
God, which were hid from ages and generations, have been re- 
vealed to you by the Apostles of the great Apostle and High- 
Priest of your confession. What Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — 
Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, and all the Prophets, down to 
John the Harbinger, rejoiced to anticipate, you have realized and 
enjoyed. The intellectual pleasures of the highest and most 
sublime conceptions of God and of Christ vouchsafed to you so 
far transcend the attainments of the ancient people of God, that 
you are comparatively exalted to heaven, and may enjoy the days 
of heaven upon earth. You have a book which contains not only 
the charter of your privileges, but which explains a thousand 
mysteries in the antecedent administrations of God over all the 
nations of the earth. In it you have such interpretations of God's 
past providences in the affairs of individuals, families, and 
nations, as open to you a thousand sources of rational and senti- 
mental enjoyment, from incidents and things which puzzled and 
perplexed the most intelligent and highly-favored of past ages. 
Mountains are, indeed, levelled ; valleys are exalted ; rough places 
are made plain, and crooked ways straight to your apprehension ; 
and, from these data, you are able to form more just conceptions 
of the present, and more lofty anticipations of the future, than 
fell to the lot of the most highly-favored subjects of preceding 
dispensations. And, indeed, so inexhaustible are the deep and 
rich mines of knowledge and understanding in the Christian 
revelations, that the most comprehensive mind in the kingdom 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 333 

of heaven might labor in them during the age of a Methusalch, 
constantly enriching itself with all knowledge and spiritual under- 
standing, and yet leave at last vast regions and tracts of thought 
wholly unexplored. 

But this decided superiority over the most gifted saints of 
former ages you unquestionably enjoy. Among all the living 
excellencies with which they were acquainted, they wanted n 
perfect model of all human excellence. Bright as were the vir- 
tues and excellencies of an Abraham, a Joseph, a David, there 
were dark spots, or, at least, some blemishes, in their moral 
character. They failed to place in living form before their con- 
temporaries, or to leave as a legacy to posterity, every virtue, 
grace, and excellence that adorn human nature. But you have 
Jesus, not only as "the image of the invisible God,^' an "efful- 
gence of his glory, and an exact representation of his character ;'' 
but as a man, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin, ex- 
hibiting in the fullest perfection every excellence which gives 
amiability, dignity, and glory to human character. You have 
motives to purity and holiness, a stimulus to all that is manly, 
good, and excellent, from what he said, and did, and suffered as 
the Son of Man, which would have added new charms and beauties 
to the most exemplary of all the saints of the olden times. 

Means and opportunities of the highest intellectual and moral 
enjoyments are richly bestowed on ygu, for which they sighed in 
vain ; God having provided some better things for Christians than 
for Jews and Patriarchs. Shall we not, then, fellow-citizens, 
appreciate and use, as we ought, to our present purity and happi- 
ness, to our eternal honor and glory, the light which the Sun of 
Righteousness has shed so richly and abundantly on us ? Re- 
member that we stand upon Apostles and Prophets, and are sus- 
tained by Jesus, the light of the world, and the interpreter and vin- 
dicator of all God^s ways to man in creation, providence, and re- 
demption. All suns are stars ; and he that is now to us in this life 
" the Sun of Eightenusness/' in respect of the future is " the Bright 
and Morning Star J' Till the day of eternity dawn, and the day- 
Btar of immortality arise in our hearts, let us always look to Jesus. 

But it is not only the felicity of superior heavenly light, though 
that is most delectable to our rational nature, which distinguishes 
you the citizens of this kingdom ; but that personal, real, and 
plenary remission of all sin, which you enjoy through the blood 
of the Lamb of God, bestowed on you though the ordinances of 
Christian immersion, and confession of sins. 



334 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

The Jews, indeed, had sacrifices under the law, which could. 
and did, take away ceremonial sins ; and which so far absolved 
from the guilt of transgressing that law, as to give them a right 
to the continued enjoyment of the temporal and political promises 
of the national compact ; but farther Jewish sacrifices and ablu- 
tions could not reach. This benefit every Jew had from them. 
But as respected the conscience, Paul, that great commentator on 
Jewish sacrifice, assures us they had no power. ** With respect 
to the conscience,^' says he, "they could not make him who did 
the service perfect.'^ 

The entrance of the law gave the knowledge of sin. It gave 
names to particular sins, and " caused the offence to abound/'— 
The sacrifices appended to it had respect to that institution alone, 
and not to sin in the general, nor to sin in its true and proper 
nature. The promise made to the patriarchs and the sacrificial 
institution added to it, through faith in that promise, led the be- 
lieving to anticipate a real sin-offering ; but it appears the Jewish 
sacrifices had only respect to the Jewish institution, and, excepting 
their typical character, gave no new light to those under that 
economy on the subject of a true and proper remission of sins 
through the real and bloody sacrifice of Christ. 

The patriarch and the believing Jew, as respected a real remis- 
sion of sins, stood upon the same ground ; for, as has been ob- 
served, the legal institution^ or, as Paul says, "the supervening 
of the law," made no change in the apprehensions of remission, 
as respected the conscience. But a new age having come, (for 
** these ordinances for cleansing the flesh were imposed only till 
the time of reformation,'') and Christ having, by a more perfect 
sacrifice, opened the way into the true holy places, has laid the 
foundation for perfecting the conscience by a real and full remis- 
sion of sins, which, by the virtue of his blood, terminates not upon 
the flesh but upon the conscience of the sinner. 

John, indeed, who lived at the dawn of the Keformation, 
preached reformation with an immersion for the remission of 
sins; saying that "they should believe in him that was to come 
after him." Those who believed John's gospel, and reformed, 
and were immersed into John's reformation, had remission of sins 
through faith in him that was to come ; but you, fellow-citizens, 
even in respect of the enjoyment of remission, are greatly ad- 
vanced above the disciples of John. You have been immersed, 
not only by the authority of Jesus, as Lord of all, into the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, but into tlte 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 8B5 

death or sacrifice of Christ. This no disciple of Moses or of John 
knew any thing about. This gives you an insight into sin, and 
a freedom from it as respects conscience — a peace and a joy unutter- 
able and full of glory, to which both the disciples of Moses and 
of the Harbinger were strangers. So that the light of the risen 
day of Heaven's eternal Sun greatly excels, not only the glim- 
merings of the stars in the patriarchal age, and the faint light of 
the moon in the Jewish age, but even the twilight of the morning. 

Your new relation to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy 
Spirit, into which you have been introduced by faith in the Mes- 
siah and immersion into his death, verifies, in respect of the sense 
and assurance of remission, all that John and Jesus said concern- 
ing the superiority of privilege vouchsafed to the citizens of the 
kingdom of heaven. You can see your sins washed away in the 
blood that was shed on Mount Calvary. That which neither the 
highly-favored John nor any disciple of the Messiah could under- 
stand, till Jesus said, ''It is finisJied'^ you not only clearly per- 
ceive, but have cordially embraced. You can feel, and say with 
all assurance, that '^the blood of Jesus Christ now cleanses you 
from all sin ;'^ and that by faith you have access to the Mediator 
of the New Institution, and to the blood of sprinkling which 
speaks glad tidings to the heart. You have an Advocate with 
the Father ; and, when conscious of any impurity, coming to God 
by him, confessing your sins, and supplicating pardon through 
his blood, you have the promise of remission. You now know 
how God is just as well as merciful, in forgiving iniquity, trans- 
gression, and sin. 

But superior light and knowledge, and enlarged conceptions of 
God, with such an assurance of real and personal remission as 
pacifies the conscience and introduces the peace of God into the 
heart, are not the only distinguishing favors which you enjoy in 
the new relation to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, into 
which you are introduced under the reign of heaven ; but you are 
formally adopted into the family of God, and constituted the sons 
and daughters of the Father Almighty. 

To be called ''the friend of God,'^ was the highest title be- 
stowed on Abraham ; to be called the friends of Christ, was the 
peculiar honor of the disciples of Christ, to whom he confided 
the secrets of his reign ; but to be called " the children of God 
through faith in Jesus Christ^' is not only the common honor of 
all Christians, but the highest honor which could be vouchsafed 
to the inhabitants of this earth. Such honor have you, my fellow- 



336 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

citizens, in being related to the only-begotten Son of God: *'Foi 
to as many as received him he gave the privilege of becoming the 
sons of God/' These, indeed, were not descended from families 
of noble blood, nor genealogies of high renown : neither are they 
the offspring of the instincts of the flesh, nor made the sons of 
God " by the will of man,'' who sometimes adopts the child of 
another as his own ; but they are " born of God" through the 
ordinances of his grace. *' Behold how great love the Father has 
bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God V 
" The world, indeed, does not know us, because it did not know 
him. Beloved, now are we the children of God. It does not yet 
appear what we shall be." 

" Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son 
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And if sons, it follows 
you "are heirs of God through Christ" — the heir of all things. 
Is this, fellow-citizens, a romantic vision, or sober and solemn 
truth, that you are children of God, possessing the spirit of Christ, 
and constituted heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ of the 
eternal inheritance ? What manner of persons, then, ought you 
to be ! How pure, how holy and heavenly, in your temper ! How 
just and righteous in all your ways ! How humble and devoted 
to the Lord ! How joyful and triumphant in your King ! 

Permit me, then, to ask. Wherein do you excel ? — nay, rather, 
you will propose this question to yourselves. You will say, 
How shall we still more successfully promote the interest, the 
honor, and the triumphs of the gospel of the kingdom ? Is there 
any thing we can do by our behavior, our morality, our piety, 
by our influence, by all the earthly means with which God has 
furnished us ? Is there any thing we can do more to strengthen 
the army of the faith, to invigorate the champions of the king- 
dom, to make new conquests for our King ? Can we not increase 
the joy of the Lord in converting souls ? Can we not furnish 
occasions of rejoicing to the angels of God? Can we not gladden 
the hearts of thousands who have never tasted the joys of the 
chilirenof God? 

In the present administration of the kingdom of God, during 
the absence of the King, he has said to the citizens, " Put on the 
armor of light" — " Contend earnestly for the faith" — *' Convert 
the world" — " Occupy till I come" — " Let your light shine before 
men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father 
in heaven" — that " the Gentiles may, by your good works whicQ 
they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitations^' He has 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 837 

thus intrusted to the citizens the great work for which he died, — 
the salvation of men. Let us, then, brethren, be found faithful 
to the Lord and to men, that he may address us at his coming 
with the most acceptable plaudit, "AYell done, good and faithful 
servants ; enter into the joy of your Lord!" 

Great as the opposition is to truth and salvation, we have no 
reason to despond. Greater are our friends and allies, and in- 
finitely more powerful, than all our enemies. God is on our side — 
Jesus Christ is our King — the Holy Spirit is at his disposal — 
angels are his ministering servants — the prayers of all the pro- 
phets, apostles, saints, and martyrs are for our success — our breth- 
ren are numerous and strong — they have the sword of the Spirit, 
the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of 
righteousness, the artillery of truth, the arguments of God, the 
prepg,ration of the gospel of peace — our Commander and Captain 
is the most successful General that ever entered the field of war — 
he never lost a battle — he is wonderful in council, excellent in 
working, valiant in fight — the Lord of hosts is his name. He can 
stultify the machinations of our enemies, control all the powers 
of nature, and subdue all our foes, terrestial and infernal. Under 
his conduct we are like Mount Zion, that can never be moved. 
Indeed, under him we are come to Mount Zion, the stronghold 
and fortress of the kingdom, the city of the living God, the hea- 
venly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, the general assembly and 
congregation of the first-born, enrolled in heaven — to God the 
Judge of all — to the spirits of just men made perfect— to Jesus 
the Mediator of the New Constitution — and to the blood of 
sprinkling, which speaks such peace, and joy, and courage to the 
heart. Ought we not, then, brethren, "to be strong in the Lord 
and in the power of his might" ? If in faith, and courage, and 
prayer, we put on the heavenly armor, and march under the King, 
sounding the gospel trumpet, the walls of Jericho will fall to the 
gr )und, and the banners of the Cross will wave over the ruins of 
Paganism, Atheism, Skepticism, and Sectarianism — Nil despc- 
raiidumy te duce, Christe. If a Eoman could say, *' Nothing is to 
be feared under the auspices of Ceesar,'^ may not the Christian 
say, " There is no despair under the guardianship of Messiah the 
King" ? 

But, fellow-citizens, though clothed with the whole panoply 
of heaven, and headed by the Captain of Salvation, there is no 
success in this war to be expected, without constant and incessant 
prayer. When the Apostles began to build up this kingdom, 

29 



838 THE CJ.xilSTIAN SYSTEM. 

notwithstanding all the gifts they enjoyed, they found it necessary 
to devote themselves to prayer as well as to the ministry of the 
word. And when Paul describes all the armor of God, piece by 
piece, in putting it on he says, " Take the Sword of the Spirit — 
>vith all supplication and deprecation, pray at all seasons in 
pnirit, watch with all perseverance and supplication for all th3 
6 {lints., ^ 

This "was most impressively and beautifully pictured out in 
the wars of ancient Israel against their enemies. While Moses 
lifted up his holy hands to heaven, Israel prevailed; and when he 
did not, Amalek prevailed. So is it now. When the disciples 
of Christ, the heaven-born citizens of the kingdom, continue in- 
stant in prayer and watchfulness, the truth triumphs in their 
hearts and in the world. When they do not, they become cold, 
timid, and impotent as Samson shorn, and the enemy gains 
strength over them. Then the good cause of the Lord languishes. 

It is not necessary that w^e should understand how prayer in- 
creases our zeal, our wisdom, our strength, our joy, or how it 
gives success to the cause, any more than that we should under- 
stand how our food is converted into flesh, and blood, and bones. 
It is only necessary that we eat ; and it is only necessary that we 
should pray as we are taught and commanded. Experience proves 
that the outward man is renewed day by day by our daily bread, 
and experience proves that the inward man is renewed day by 
day by prayer and thanksgiving. The Lord has promised his 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him in truth ; and is it not necessary 
to our success ? If it be not necessary to give new revelations, 
it is necessary to keep in mind those already given, and to bring 
the word written seasonably to our remembrance. Besides, if 
the Spirit of the Lord was necessary to the success of Gideon 
and Barak, and Samson and David, and all the great warriors of 
Israel according to the flesh, wdio fought the battles of the Lord 
with the sword, the sling, and the bow ; who can say that it ia 
not necessary to those who draw the Sword of the Spirit and 
fight the good tight of faith? In my judgment it is as necessary 
now as then — necessary, I mean, to equal success — necessary to 
the success of those w^ho labor in the word and teaching, and ne- 
cessary to those who would acquit themselves like men, in every 
department in the ranks of the great army of the Lord of hosts. 

Though the w^eapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual, 
they are mighty (only, however, tlirougli God, to the overt'irning 
of stroD*!;holds) to the overturning of all reasonings against the 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 389 

truth, and every high thing raised up against the knowledge of 
God, and in leading captive every thought to the obedience of 
Christ. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, whether as leaders or 
as private soldiers, abound in prayer and supplications to God 
night and day. If sincere, and ardent, and incessant prayers to 
God for every thing that he has promised, for all things for which 
the Apostles prayed, were offered up by all the congregations, and 
by every disciple in his family and in his closet, for the triumphs 
of the truth ; then would we see the army of the Lord successful 
in fight against atheism, infidelity, and sectarianism — then would 
we see disciples growing in knowledge and in favor with God 
and man. And is not the conversion of the world and our own 
eternal salvation infinitely worthy of all the effort and enterprise 
in man, seeing God himself has done so much in the gift of his 
Son and Holy Spirit, and left for us so little to do — nothing, in- 
deed, but what is in the compass of our power? And should we 
withhold that little, especially as he has given us so many and so 
exceedingly great and precious promises to stimulate us to exer- 
tion ? Has not Jesus said, " The conqueror shall inherit all things^' 
— that he " will not blot his name out of the book of life'^ — that 
he *'will confess it before his Father and his holy angels'^ — that 
he will place him " upon his throne, and give him the crown of 
life that shall never fade away'^ ? 

Rise up, then, in the strength of Judah's Lion ! Be valiant for 
the truth ! Adorn yourselves with all the graces of the Spirit of 
God ! Put on the armor of light ; and, with all the gentleness, 
and meekness, and mildness there is in Christ — with all the 
courage, and patience, and zeal, and effort, worthy of a cause so 
salutary, so pure, so holy, and so divine, determine never to faint 
nor to falter till you enter the pearly gates — never to lay down 
your arms till, with the triumphant millions, you stand before 
the throne, and exultingly sing, *' Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and 
honor, and glory, and blessing V — " To Him who sits upon the 
throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and 
strength, forever and forever V' Amen. 



A WORD TO FRIENDLY ALIENS. 

Whether to regard you in the light of Proselytes of the Gate, 
who refused circumcision, but wished to live in the land of Israel, 
to be in the suburbs of the cities of Judah, and to keep sonio of 



840 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

the institutions of the ancient kingdom of God, without becoming 
fellow-citizens of that kingdom ; or whether to regard you as the 
Samaritans of old, who built for themselves a temple of God 
upon Mount Gerizim, held fast a part of the ancient revelation of 
God, and rejected only such parts of it as did not suit their pre- 
judices — worshipped the God of Israel in common with the idols 
of the nations from which they sprang — I say, whether to regard 
you in the light of the one or the other of those ancient professors 
of religion might require more skill in casuistry than we possess 
— more leisure than we have at our disposal — and more labor 
than either of us have patience to endure. One thing, however, 
is obvious, — that if under the reign of Heaven it behooved so good 
a man as Cornelius ('* a man of piety, and one that feared God 
with all his house, giving also much alms to the people, and 
praying to God continually^^) to ^^hear ivords by which he might 
he saved/^ and to put on Christ by immersion into his death, that 
he might enter the kingdom of heaven and enjoy the remission of 
sins, and the hope of an inheritance among all the sanctified — 
certainly it is both expedient and necessary that you should go 
also and do likewise. 

Every sectarian in the land, how honest and pious soever, ought 
to bury his sectarianism, and all his other sins of omission and 
commission, in "the bath of regeneration.^' It is a high crime 
and misdemeanor in any man, professing to have received the 
Messiah in his proper person, character, and ofiice, to refuse alle- 
giance to him in any thing ; and to substitute human inventions 
and traditions in lieu of the ordinances and statutes of Prince 
Immanuel. Indeed, the keeping up of any dogma, practice, or 
custom, which directly or indirectly supplants the constitution, 
laws, and usages of the kingdom over which Jesus presides, is 
directly opposed to his government ; and would ultimate in de- 
throning him in favor of a rival, and in placing upon his throne 
the author of that dogma, practice, or usage which supplants the 
institution of the Saviour of the world. 

It is to you, then, who, in the name of the King, are changing 
his ordinances, and substituting your own expedients for the wis- 
dom and authority of the Judge of all, we now propose the fol- 
lowing considerations: — 

Every kingdom has one uniform law or institution for natural- 
izing aliens ; and that institution, )f whatever sort it be, is obli- 
gatory, by the authority of the government, upon every one who 
would become a citizen. We say it is obligatory upon him who 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 34i 

desires to be a citizen to submit to that institution. But does not 
your practice and your dogma positively say that it is not the duty 
of an alien to be born again, but that it is the duty of his father 
or guardian to have him naturalized ? Now, although many things 
are in common the duty of brother, father, and child, yet those 
duties which belong specifically to a father cannot belong to his 
child, either in religion, morality, or society. If it be the father^s 
duty to " offer his child to the Lord,'' to speak in your own style, 
it is not the duty of the child to offer himself. It was not Isaac's 
duty to be circumcised, but Abraham's duty to circumcise him. 
If, then, it was your father's duty to have made you citizens of 
the kingdom of heaven, it is not your duty to become citizens, 
unless you can produce a law saying that in all cases where the 
father fails to do his duty, then it shall be the duty of the child 
to do that which his father neglected. 

Again — if all fathers, like yours, had, upon their own respon- 
sibility, without any command from the Lord, baptized their 
children, there would not be one in a nation to whom it could be 
said, *' Repent and be baptized;'' much less could it be said to 
every penitent, "Be baptized, every one of you, by the authority 
of the Lord, for the remission of sins." These remarks are only 
intended to show that your institutions do, in truth, go to the sub- 
version of the government of Christ, and to the entire abolition 
of the institutions of his kingdom. On this account alone, if for 
no other reason, you ought to be constitutionally naturalized, and 
be legally and honorably inducted into the kingdom of heaven. 
It is a solemn duty you owe to the King and his government; and 
if you have a conscience formed by the oracles of God, you can 
have no confidence in God, nor real peace of mind, so long as 
you give your support, your countenance, example, and entire 
influence to break down the institutions of Jesus Christ, to open 
his kingdom to all that is born of the flesh, and to prevent, as far 
as you can, every man from the pleasure of choosing whom he 
shall obey — of confessing him before men — of taking on his 
yoke — of dying, being buried, and raised with Christ in his gra- 
cious institution. If Jesus himself, for the sake of fulfilling all 
righteousness, or of honoring every divine institution, though he 
needed not reformation for remission of sins which John preached, 
was immersed by John — what have you to say for yourselves — 
you who would claim the honors and privileges of the kingdom 
of heaven, refusing to follow the example of Jesus, and who vir^ 
tually subvert his authority by supporting a system which would, 



842 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

if carried out, not allow a voluntary agent in the race of Adam, 
to do that which all the first converts of Christ did, by authority 
of the commission which Jesus gave to his Apostles ? 

Again — whatever confidence you may now possess, that you 
are good citizens of the kingdom of the Messiah, that confidence 
is not founded upon a *'thus saith the Lord,^^ but upon your own 
reasonings, which all men must acknowledge may be in this, as 
in many other things, fallacious. Jesus has said, "He that be- 
lieves and is immersed shall be saved ;^^ and Peter commanded 
every penitent to be immersed for the remission of his sins. 
Now, he who hears th3 word, believes it, and is on his own con- 
fession immersed, has an assurance, a confidence, which it is im- 
possible for you to have. 

Let me add only another consideration, for we are not now 
arguing the merits of your theory, or that of any party : it is your 
duty, as you desire the union of (what you call) the church, and 
the conversion of the world, forthwith to be immersed and to be 
born constitutionally into the kingdom ; because all Protestants, 
of every name, if sincere believers in Jesus as the Christ, irre- 
spective of every opinion found in any human creed, could, if 
they would, honor and obey his institutions, come into one fold, 
and sit down together under the reign of the Messiah. If all 
would folloAV your example, this would necessarily follow ; if 
they do not, you have done your duty. In being thus immersed, 
all the world. Catholic and Protestant, admit that you are truly 
and scripturally baptized ; for all admit that an immersed penitent 
is constitutionally baptized into Christ; but only a part of the 
professing world can admit that rite of infant afi'asion on which 
you rely as introducing you, without previous knowledge, faith, 
or repentance, into the family of God. Acquit, then, your con- 
science ; follow the example of Jesus ; honor and support his au- 
thority ; promote the union and peace of the family of God; do 
what in you lies for the conversion of the world ; enter into the 
full enjoyment of the blessings of the kingdom of heaven by 
confessing the ancient faith, and by being immersed in the name 
of Jesus into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit, for the remission of sins. Then you may say, as 
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Although the Samaritans 
have a temple on Mount Gerizim, a priesthood, and the five books 
of Moses, " salvation is of the Jews.^^ Although the sects have 
the Oracles of God, human creeds, many altars, priests, and re- 
ligious usages, the enjoy ment of salvation is among them who 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 343 

simply believe what the Apostles wrote concerning Jesus, and 
who from the heart obey that mould of doctrine which the Apos- 
tles delivered to us. 

In so doing you will, moreover, most wisely consult your cwn 
safety and security from the signa» calamities that are every day 
accumulating, and soon to fall with overwhelming violence on a 
distracted, divided, alienated, and adulterous generation. If you 
are *' iJie people of God,^' as you profess, and as we would fain 
imagine, then you are commanded by a voice from heaven — 
*' Come out of her, my people, that you partake not of the sins 
of mystic Babylon, and that you receive not a portion of her 
plagues. ^^^ If affliction, and shame, and poverty, and reproach, 
were to be the inalienable lot of the most approved servants of 
God, it is better, infinitely better, for you to suffer with them, 
than to enjoy for a season all that a corrupted and apostate so- 
ciety can bestow upon you. Remember who it is that has said, 
"Happy are they who keep his commandments, for they shall 
have a right to the tree of life, and they shall enter in through 
the gates into the city V^ 



ADDRESS TO BELLIGERENT ALIENS. 

To him who, through the telescope of faith, surveys your 
camp, there appears not on the whole map of creation such a 
motley group, such a heterogeneous and wretched amalgamation 
of distracted spirits, as are found in actual insurrection and 
rebellion, in a mad and accursed alliance against the reigning 
Monarch of creation. In your lines are found every unclean and 
hateful spirit on this side the fathomless gulf, the dark and ray- 
less receptacle of fallen and ruined intelligences, who, in endless 
and fruitless wailings, lament their own follies, and through an 
incessant night of despair anathematize themselves and their co- 
adjutors in the perpetration of their eternal suicide. Yes, in your 
ranks are found all who wilfully reject the Son of Grod, and will 
not have him to reign over them ; whether they are styled the 
decent moralist, the honest deist, skeptic, atheist, infidel, the 
speculating Sadducee, the boasting Pharisee, the supercilious 
Jew, the resentful Samaritan, or the idolatrous Gentile. All 
ranks and degrees of men in political society — the king and the 
beggar — the sage philosopher and the uneducated clown — the 

* Revelation, chap, xviii. verses 8 and 9. 



344 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

rich and the poor — who disdain the precepts of the Messiah, unite 
■with you in this unholy alliance against the kingdom of heaven. 
You may boast of many a decent fellow-soldier in the crusade 
against Immanuel; many who, when weighed in the balances of 
the political sanctuar}^ are not found wanting in all the decencies 
of this present life ; but yet look at the innumerable crowds of 
every sort of wretches, down to the filthiest, vilest matricide, 
who in your communion are fighting under your banners — stout- 
hearted rebels ! — leagued with you in your attempts to dethrone 
the Lord's Anointed. If you boast of one Marcus Aurelius, you 
must fraternize with many a Nero, Domitian, Caligula, and He- 
liogabalus. If you rejoice in the virtues of one Seneca, you must 
own the vices of the ten thousand murderers, robbers, adulterers, 
drunkards, profane swearers, and lecherous debauchees who have 
rejected the counsels of Heaven because the precepts of righteous- 
ness and life forbade their crimes. 

If, then, my friends, (for I now address the most honorable of 
your community,) you boast that you belong to a very large and 
respectable synagogue, remember, I pray you, that to this same 
synagogue in which you have your brotherhood belongs every 
thing mean, and vile, and wretched, in every land where the 
name of Jesus has been announced. Wliat a group ! Have you 
80 much of the reflex light of the gospel falling upon your vision 
as to flush your cheek with the glow of shame when you look 
along the lines of your alliance, and survey the horrible faces, 
the ragged, and tattered, and squalid, and filthy wretches, your 
companions in arms — members with you in the synagogue of Satan, 
and confederates against the Prince of Peace! If you cannot blush 
at such a spectacle, you are not among them to whom I would 
tender the pearls of Jesus Christ. 

What do you then say? *'I am ashamed of such an alliance — 
of such a brotherhood ; and therefore I have joined the Tempe- 
rance Society — I belong to the Literary Cltb — and I carry my 
family regularly to church every Sunday .'' And do you think, 
simpleton ! that these human inventions, which only divide tho 
kingdom of Satan into castes, and form within it various private 
communions, honorable and dishonorable associations, learned and 
unlearned fraternities, moral and immoral conventicles, change 
the state of a single son of Adam as respects the Son of God ! 
Then may Whig and Tory, Masonic and Antimasonic clubs and 
conclaves — then may every political cabal, for the sake of ele- 
vating some demagogue — change the political relations in the state, 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 34*'J 

and make and unmake American citizens according to fancy, ix 
despite of constitution, law, and established precedents. No, sir 
should there be as many parties in the state as there are days in 
a month, membership in any one of these affects not in the least 
the standing of any man as a citizen in relation to the United 
States, or to any foreign power. And by parity of reason, as well 
as by all that is written in the New Testament, should you join 
all the benevolent societies on the checkered map of Christendom, 
and fraternize with every brotherhood born after the will of man^ 
this would neither change nor destroy your citizenship in the 
kingdom of Satan— -still you would be an alien from the kingdom 
of the Messiah — a foreigner as respects all its covenanted bless- 
ings — and in the unbiassed judgment of the universe, you would 
stand enrolled among its enemies. 

In character there are many degrees, as respects any and every 
attribute which enters into its formation : but as respects state 
tliere are no degrees. In the nature of things it is impossible. 
Every man is either married or single, a brother, a master, a citi- 
zen, or he is not. Every man is either Christ's or Belial's : there 
is no middle power, and therefore no neutral state. Hence the 
King himself, when on the present theatre of w^ar, told his com- 
panions to regard every man as his enemy who was not on his 
side. Among his professed friends, they who in works deny him 
are even counted as enemies. 

What a hopeless struggle is that in which you are engaged ! 
Discomfiture, soon or late, awaits you. Have you counsel and 
strength to oppose the Sovereign of the Universe? Do you think 
you can frustrate the counsels of Infinite Wisdom and overcome 
Omnipotence? Your master is already a prisoner — your chief is 
in chains. The fire of eternal vengeance is already kindled for 
Satan and all his subjects. Mad in his disappointed ambition, 
and implacable in his hatred of Him against w4iom he rebelled, 
he only seeks to gratify his own malice, by involving with him' 
self in irremediable ruin the unhappy victims of his seduction. 
H3 only seeks to desolate the dominions of God, and to ruin 
forever his fellow-3reatures. Will you, then, serve your ^vorst 
enemy, and war against your best friend? 

But your rebellion can efiect nothing against God. His arm 
is too strong for the whole creation. You cannot defeat his coun- 
sels nor stay his almighty hand. The earth on which you stand 
trembles at his rebuke ; the foundations of the hills and moun- 
tains are moved and shaken at his presence. You fight agains 



346 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

yourselves. God's detestation of your course arises not from any 
apprehension that you can injure him; but because you destroy 
yourselves. Every triumph which your inordinate desires and 
passions gain over the remonstrances of reason and conscience 
only precipitates you into deeper and deeper misery, matures 
you for perdition, and makes it essential to the good order and 
happiness of the universe, you should suffer an ''everlasting de- 
struction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glcry of 
his power." 

What, then, infatuates you, 'that you should choose death 
rather than life, and prefer destruction to salvation ? "1 am not 
sure that the gospel is true ; I love my companions, and cannot 
see any criminality in gratifying those passions and appetites 
which my Creator has planted in my constitution." 

You admit there is a God, your Creator; but you doubt whether 
the gospel is true! What an abuse of reason and evidence ! Can 
you infer, from any premises in your possession, that He whose 
creation man is, who has exhibited to the eye and ear of man so 
much wisdom, power, and goodness, in all his grand designs al- 
ready accomplished, and daily accomplishing, in the heavens and 
in the earth, teaching men to sustain the present life, to antici- 
pate the future, and to provide for it, has never intelligibly ad- 
dressed him on a subject of incomparably more importance — his 
own ultimate destiny? That God should have been at so much 
pains to elevate man in nature — to furnish him with such an or- 
ganization — to bestow on him reason and speech — admirably 
qualifying him to acquire and communicate instruction, on all 
things necessary to his present animal enjoyments; and, at the 
same time, to have never communicated to him any thing relative 
to his intellectual nature — never to have addressed him on the 
themes which, as a rational creature, he must necessarily most 
of all desire to know; to have done every thing for his body, and 
for the present — and nothing for his mind nor for the future — is, 
to say the least of it, the most improbable conceit that the most 
romantic fancy can entertain. 

That the Creator could not enlighten him on these topics is 
wholly inadmissible. That he could, and would not^ is directly 
contrary to every analogy in creation — contradictory to every 
proof we have of his benevolence, an inexplicable exception to 
the whole order of his government; for he has provided objects 
for every sense — objects for every intellectual power — objects for 
every affection, honorable passion, appetite and propensity, in oar 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 847 

constitution; but, on your hypothesis, he has only failed in that 
which is infinitely more dear to us, more consonant to our whole 
rational nature, and most essential to our happiness ! It is most 
contrary to reason. 

But the folly of your skepticism is still more glaring when wo 
open the book of the gospel of salvation. In the history of Jesus 
you have the fulfilment of a thousand predictions, expressed by 
numerous prophets for one thousand five hundred years before he 
^as born. These recorded prophecies were in the possession of 
his and our most bitter enemies, when he appeared, and are still ex- 
tant in their hands. How can you dispose of these? All antiquity 
confirms the existence of Jesus of Nazareth in the times of Augustus 
and Tiberius Caesar. .No contemporary opponent denied his mira- 
cles: they explained them away, but questioned not the wonderful 
works which he wrought. His character was the only perfect 
and unexceptionable one the world ever saw, either in print or in 
real life; and yet you imagine him to have been the greatest liar 
and most infamous impostor that ever lived. You must admit 
him to have been the teacher of every thing moral and pure 
and godlike — to have lived the most exemplary life — to have em- 
ployed his whole life in doing good, while to countenance your 
skepticism, you must imagine him to have been the greatest de- 
ceiver and most blasphemous pretender the world ever saw ! — 
Truly, you are fond of paradox ! 

His Apostles, too, for the sake of being accounted the off- 
scourings of the world, and the filth of all society — for the sake 
of poverty, contumely, stripes, imprisonment, and martyrdom, 
you imagine travelled over the earth teaching virtue and holi- 
ness, discountenancing every species of vice and immorality, while 
telling the most impudent lies, and that, too, about matters of 
palpable fact, about which no man having eyes and ears could 
be mistaken! How great your credulity ! How weak your faith ! 

And, to consummate the whole, you admit that in the most en- 
lightened age, and among the most disputatious and discrimi- 
nating population, both Jewish, Roman, and Grecian, in Jerutwa- 
lem itself, the very theatre of the crucifixion ot Christ, and in all 
Judea and vSamaria, and in all the great towns and cities of the 
whole ancient Roman empire, Eastern and Western, these rude 
and uncultivated Galileans did actually succeed in persuading 
hundreds of thousands of persons, of all ranks, sexes, ages, and 
intellects, to renounce their former opinions and practices — to en- 
counter proscription, confiscation of gouds, banishment, and even 



348 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

death itself in numerous instances, through faith in their testi 
rnonj, while every thing was fresh, and when the detection of 
any fiction or fraud was most easy. 

Now, if it were possible to place your folly in an attitude still 
more inexcusable, I would ask you to show what there is in thd 
gospel that is not infinitely worthy of God to bestow and of man 
to receive. And where under the canopy of the skies, in any 
country, language, or age of time, is there any thing that confers 
greater honor on man or proposes to him any thing more worthy 
of his acceptance, than the gospel? 

Can there have been a more acceptable model proposed, after 
which to fashion man, than that after which he was originally 
created? When he was beguiled and apostatized from God, could 
there have been deputed a more honorable personage to efi'ect 
his reconciliation to God, than his only-begotten and well-beloved 
Son? And could there even be imagined a more delectable des- 
tiny allotted to man, than an immortality of bliss in the palace of 
this vast universe, in the presence of his Father and his God for- 
ever and ever? Now, with all these premises, will you object to 
this religion, that it requires a man to be pure and holy in order 
to his enjoyment of this eternal salvation? Then lay your hand 
upon your face, and blush, and be ashamed forever. 

But you say you love your companions. And who are they? 
Your fellow-rebels, foolish and infatuated like yourselves. The 
drunkard, the thief, the murderer, love their companions, the 
partners of their crimes. Conspirators and partisans in any un- 
dertaking, kindred spirits in guilty and daring enterprise, confirm 
each other in their evil machinations, and, either from mutual 
interest or from some hateful affinity in evil dispositions, coalesce 
and league together in bands of malicious depredation. A Cati 
line, a Jugurtha, a Robespierre, had their confederates. The rakes, 
the libertines, the freebooters of every color, love their own fra* 
ternities, and have a liking of some sort for their companior.^ 
And wherein does your attachment to your companions differ from 
theirs? A congeniality of disposition, a similarity of likings and 
dislikings, all springing from your love of the world and your 
dislike of the authority of the Messiah. And will not a change 
of circumstances convert your affections into hatred? Soon or 
late, if you do not repent and turn to God, you that are leagued 
in the friendships of the world, these friendships, arising from the 
lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, will 
not only become enemies, but mutual tormentors of one another. 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 849 

Your warmest friends in your opposition to the Son of God will 
become king's evidence against you, and exasperate the flame 
that will consume you forever and ever. Break off, then, every 
friendship, alliance, and covenant which you have formed with 
them that disdain the grace of God and contemn the Saviour of 
the world, and form an everlasting covenant with the people of 
God, which shall never be forgotten. Then, indeed, you may 
love your companions with all the affection of your hearts, and 
indulge to the utmost every s^^mpathy and social feeling of your 
nature. Then may you embrace, in all the ardor of fraternal love, 
those kindred spirits that with you have vowed eternal allegiance 
to the gracious and rightful Sovereign of all the nations of the 
redeemed, in heaven and on earth. Such companions are worth 
possessing, and their friendship worth cultivating and preserving, 
through all the journey of life; for it will be renewed beyond the 
Jordan, and flourish with increasing delight through the endless 
ages of eternity. 

But you have isaid that the gratification of all the impulses and 
propensities of your nature must be innocent, because they are 
the creation of God, and were sown in the embryo of your phy- 
sical constitution. If under the control of that light and reason 
under which God commanded your affections and appetites to 
move, your reasoning would be sound and safe; but if they have 
usurped a tyranny over your judgment, and captivated your rea- 
son, they are not to be gratified. They are like successful rebels 
that have dethroned their sovereign; and, because by violence 
and fraud in possession of the throne, they plead a divine right to 
wield the sceptre over their dethroned Prince. Such is the mean- 
ing of the plea which you urge in favor of your rebellious affec- 
tions. When man rebelled against his Creator, the beasts of the 
field, till then under his dominion, rebelled against him ; and all 
his passions, affections, and propensities partook of the general 
disorder — of that wild and licentious anarchy which ensued upon 
man's disobedience. And have you not in your daily observa- 
tion — nay, have you not in your own experience — irrefragable 
evidence that the uncontrolled indulgence of even the instinctive 
appetites, as well as the gratification of inordinate passions and 
affections, necessarily issue in the destruction of the physical 
constitution of man? Is not the control of reason, is not the 
exercise of discretion in the license of every animal indulgence, 
essential to the health and life of man? Then why crave an ex- 
emption from the universal law of human existence, in favor of 



850 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

th«at demoralizing cour&e of indulgence which you would fain 
call innocent in morals, though in physics evidently destructive 
to animal organization ! 

"When reconciled to God through the gospel, the peace of God 
which passes understanding reigning in the heart, all is order 
and harmony within. Then, under the control of enlightened and 
sanctified reason, all the passions, appetites, and instincts of our 
nature, like the planets round the sun, move in their respective 
orbits in the most perfect order, preserving a perfect balance in 
all the principles and powers of human action. Pleasures with- 
out alloy are then felt and enjoyed from a thousand sources, from 
w^hich, in the tumult and disorder of rebellion, every transgressor 
is debarred. It is then found, that there is not a supernumerary 
passion, affection, nor appetite in man — not one that adds not 
something to his enjo3mient — not one that may not be made an 
instrument of righteousness, a means of doing good to others, as 
well as of enjoying good ourselves. Why not, then, lay down the 
weapons of your rebellion, and be at peace with God, with your 
fellow-creatures, and with yourselves ? 

"Admitting, then, that the gospel is true — that in my present 
state and standing I am an alien from the kingdom of heaven, 
and that I wished to^ become a citizen — where shall I find this 
kingdom of heaven, and how shall I be constituted a citizen 
thereof?^' Well, indeed, may you admit the gospel to be true, 
both on account of what it is in itself, and the evidence which 
sustains it. Only suppose it to be ftilse — extinguish all the light 
which it sheds on the human race — make void all its promises — ■ 
annul all its hopes — eradicate from the human breast all the 
motives which it imparts — and what remains to explain the uni- 
verse, to develop the moral character of God, to dissipate the 
gloom which envelops in eternal night the destiny of man, to so- 
lace and cheer him during the incessant struggle of life, to soothe 
the bed of affliction and death, and to counterveil the inward dread 
and horror of falling into nothing — of being forever lost in the pro- 
miscuous wreck of nature — of sinking down into the grave, the food 
of worms, the prey of an eternal death? 

It is like annihilating the sun in the heavens. An eternal night 
ensues. There is no beauty, form, nor comeliness in creation. 
The universe is in ruins. The world without the Bible is a uni- 
verse without a sun. The Atheist is but an atom of matter in 
motion, belonging to no system, amenable to none, without a 
destiny, without an object to live or to die. lie boasts there is 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 351 

none to punish him : but then there is none to help him — none to 
reward him. He has no Father, Proprietor, or Kuler — no filial 
affection, no sense of obligation, no gratitude, no comfort in re- 
flection, no joy in anticipation. If he cannot be blamed, he can- 
not be praised, he cannot be honored — and man without honor is 
more wretched than the beasts that perish. Unenviable mortal! 

What an abortion is the system of nature, if man lives not 
again ! It is a creation for the sake of destruction. It is an in- 
finite series of designs, ending in nothing. It is a universe of 
blanks, without a single prize. It cannot be. The Bible is ne- 
cessary to the interpretation of nature. It is the only comment 
on nature — on providence — on man. Man without it, and with- 
out the hope of immortality, has nothing to rouse him into action^ 
He is a savage, a Hottentot, a cannibal, a worm. You are com- 
pelled, then, to admit that the gospel is true, unless you put out 
the eye of Reason, and refuse to hear the voice of Nature. 

But is it not a happy necessity which compels your belief in 
God, and in his Son the renovator of the universe ? It opens to 
you all the mysteries of creation, the arcana of the temple of 
nature, and inducts you to the fountain of being and of bliss. It 
inspires you with motives of high and lofty enterprise, stimu- 
lates you to manly action, and points out a prize worthy of the 
best efforts of body, soul, and spirit. Is it not, then, " a credible 
saying, and worthy of universal acceptance, that Jesus Christ 
came into the world to save sinners, even the chief ? 

But you ask, " Where shall the kingdom of heaven be found, 
and how may you be constituted a citizen of it?^^ The Prophets 
and Apostles must be your guide in deciding these great questions. 
Moses in the law, all the Prophets, and all the Apostles, point 
you to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world — 
the Apostle of the Father Almighty — the divinely-constituted 
Chief of the kingdom of heaven. He has submitted his claims to 
your examination — he has invited you to test all his pretensions 
— -and to the humble and docile he has tendered all necessary as- 
sistance in deciding upon his person and mission. 

His character is so familiar, so condescending, so full of all 
grace and goodness, that all may approach him. The halt, the 
maimed, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, found in him a friend and 
physician indeed. None importune his aid in vain. His ears 
are alwaj's open to the tale of woe. His eye streams with sym- 
pathy on every object of distress. He invites all the wretched, 
and repulses none who implore relief. He chides only the proud, 



352 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

and kindly receives and blesses the humble. He invites and 
beseeches the weary, the heavy-laden, the broken-hearted, the 
oppressed, and all the sons of want and misfortune, to come to 
him, and tenders relief to all. 

In his official dignity he presides over the universe. He is the 
lligh-Priest of God and the Prophet and Messenger of Peace, 
lie has the key of David ; he opens and shuts the Paradise of 
God. He is the only Potentate, and has the power of granting 
remission of all sins to all who obey him. 

To receive him in his personal glory and official dignity and 
supremacy, as the Messiah of God, the only-begotten of the 
Father — to know him in his true and proper character — is the 
only prerequisite to the obedience of faith. He that thus ac- 
credits him is not far from the kingdom of heaven. To assume 
him as your Prophet, your High-Priest, and your King; to sub- 
mit to him in these relations, being immersed into his death, will 
translate you into the kingdom of heaven. Why not, then, gladly 
and immediately yield him the admiration of your understanding 
and the homage of your heart? Why not now enter into the 
possession of all the riches, and fulness, and excellence of the 
kingdom? He commands all men to repent — he beseeches every 
sinner whom he addresses in his word to receive pardon and 
eternal life as a gracious gift. 

Can you doubt his power to save, to instruct, and to sanctify 
you for heaven? Can you doubt his condescending mercy and 
compassion ? Will not he that pitied the blind Bartimeus, that 
condoled with the widow of Nain, that wept with Mary and 
Martha at the grave of Lazarus, that heard the plea of the Syro- 
phenician woman, that cleansed the supplicating leper, that com- 
passionated the famishing multitudes, that looked with pity (even 
in the agonies of the cross) upon an importuning thief, have pity 
upon you, and every returning prodigal, who sues for mercy at 
the gate of his kingdom ? 

Is there in the universe one whom you can believe with more 
assurance than the Faithful and True Witness who, in the 
presence of Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good confession at the 
hazard of his life ? Is there any person in heaven, on earth, or 
under the earth, more worthy of your confidence, than the sinner'tt 
triend ; than he who always, and in all circumstances, bore tes- 
timony to the truth? When did he ever violate his word, or suf- 
fer his promise to fail? Who ever repented of his confidence in 



THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 853 

Jesus, or of relying implicitly upon his word? Who ever ^Ytls 
put to shame because of confidence in him ? 

Who can offer such inducements to obedience to his authority 
as the Saviour of the vrorld ? Who has such power to bless ? 
He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He has power to 
forgive sins, to raise the dead, to bestow immortality and eternal 
life, and to judge the living and the dead. And has he not ten- 
dered a participation of his official authority to every one who 
submits to his government, and who, by him, is reconciled to God? 
If he have wisdom and power divine, has he not pledged these to 
the relief, guidance, and benefit of his people ? Who can injure 
them under his protection — condemn whom he justifies — crimi- 
nate whom he pardons — or snatch out of his hands those who 
betake themselves to his mercy ? 

Was there ever love like his love — compassion like his com- 
passion — or condescension like his condescension? Who ever 
could — w^ho ever did — humble himself like the Son of God ? On 
whose cheek ever flowed tears of purer sympathy for human woe 
than those he shed ? Whose bowels ever moved with such com- 
passion as that which dissolved his heart in tender mercies for 
the afflicted sons and daughters of men? Who ever for his friends 
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself; submitted 
to such indignities ; sustained such accumulated sorroAvs and 
griefs ; suffered such agonies of mind and body, as those which 
he endured in giving his life an offering for his enemies ? For- 
saken by his God, abandoned by his friends, deserted of every 
stay, surrounded by the fiercest enemies, the most implacable foes^ 
whose hearts were harder than adamant, insulting the very pangs 
which they inflicted, he expired on the accursed tree ! The hea- 
vens blushed at the sight — the sun covered his face — the earth 
trembled — the rocks split — the veil of the temple was rent from 
top to bottom — the graves optenod. All nature stood horror-strick* 
en, when Eoman soldiers, urged by bloodthirsty priests, nailed 
him to the cross — when the chief-priests, scribes, and elders, in 
derision said, " He saved others : cannot he save himself ?^^ The 
person who perceives not, who feels not the eloquence of his love 
consummated in his death — the, tenderness of his entreaties and 
expostulations, is not to be reasoned with — is not to be moved by 
human power. Will you not, then, honor your reason by honor- 
ing the Son of God — by givin.g up your understanding, your 
wills, your affections, to the teachings of the good Spirit— to the 



854 THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM. 

guidance of his love ? Then, and only then, can you feel your- 
selves safe, secure, and happy. 

Need you to be reminded how much you are indebted to his 
long-suffering patience already — to his benevolence in all the gifts 
and bounties of his providence vouchsafed to you ? How many 
days and nights has he guarded, sustained, and succored you ! 
Has he not saved you from ten thousand dangers — from the pes- 
tilence that walks in darkness secretly, and from destruction that 
wastes at noonday? Who can tell but he has lengthened out 
your unprofitable existence to this very hour, that you might now 
repent of all your sins, turn to God with your whole heart, be 
baptized for the remission of your past transgressions, be adopted 
into the family of God, and yet receive an inheritance among 
the sanctified? Arise, then, in the strength of IsraePs God — ac- 
cept salvation at his hands — enter into his kingdom, and be for- 
ever blessed. You will not, you cannot, repent of such a step, 
of such a noble surrender of yourself, while life endures ; in the 
hour of death, in the day of judgment, nor during the endless suc- 
cession of ages in eternity. To-day, then, hear his voice: to- 
morrow may be forever too late ! All things are ready Come. 

Saints on earth, and angels in heaven — Apostles, Prophets, and 
Martyrs — will rejoice over you, and you will rejoice with them, 
forever and forever. Amen I 



THE EMP. 



INDEX. 



A. VAJf- 

Abraham 13i 

Address to Belligerent Aliens 341 

Citizens of the Kingdom 332 

Ascension of the Messiah 16? 

Attributes of a real Sin-offering 45 

B. 

Baptist 228 

Baptism , 55 

Action of 55 

Subject of. 57 

Meaning of. 57 

Barnabas 218 

Bible 15 

Blessing of Abraham 137 

Breaking the Loaf. 301 

Proposition i 302 

'' II 303 

*« III 305 

" IV 305 

« V 307 

" VI 310 

" VII 311 

Body of Christ 72 

C. 

Christ the Light of the World 49 

Christian Ministry 77 

Hope 67 

Discipline j, 85 

Christians are persons pardoned, &c 62 

Clement and Hermas 219 

Concluding Addresses 332 

Confession of Faith 58 

(3o6) 



356 INDEX. 

PAGB 

Confirmation of the Testimony 117 

Conversion 60 

Coronation of the Messiah 170 

Covenant of Circumcision 135 

Cyprian 224 

D. 

Discipline.... 88 

Doom of the Wicked 69 

E. 

Effects of Modern Christianity 244 

Episcopalian 225 

Expediency 90 

F. 

Fact 110 

Faith 113 

Faith in Christ 52 

Foundation of Christian Union 106 

Fundamental Fact 121 

G. 

Gift of the Holy Spirit 63 

God 19 

Son of 21 

Spirit of 23 

H. 
Heresy , , 95 

I. 

Immersion not a mere Bodily Act , .^,, 

J. 

Jewish Institution -., 138 

Justification ascribed to Seven Causes 24"^ 

Justin Martyr . 2^' 

K. 

Kingdom of Heaven 148 

Coming of 161 

Constitution of 151 

Elements of. 148 

Induction into 160 



INDEX. 357 

Kingdom of Heaven — page 

King of 154 

Laws of 157 

Manners and Customs of. 160 

Name of 149 

Present Administration of 172 

Subjects of. 155 

Territory of 158 

L. 

Lordship of the Messiah » 61 

M. 

Man as he was , 25 

Man as he is 27 

Methodist 227 

N. 

New Birth 266 

Life 267 

O. 
Origen 223 

P 

Patriarchal Age of the AVorld 128 

Peter in Jerusalem, and Paul in Philippi, reconciled 249 

Preface 3 

Preface to Second Edition 12 

Presbyterian.. 225 

Purity of Speech 124 

Purposes of God concerning Man , ... 29 

Physical Regeneration 269 

E. 

Beformation 258 

Begeneration 261 

Extra on.. • 250 

Bath of. 263 

of the Church 273 

Heaven and the Earth 292 

World 291 

Physical 269 

Use of the Theory of. 271 

Religion for Man 34 



358 INDEX. 

PAGB 

Remission of Sins « 179 

Proposition i 181 

'' II 182 

'' III 183 

" IV 183 

V 184 

<* VI 185 

** VII 190 

" VIII 192 

" IX 193 

** X 199 

" XI 218 

'' XII 225 

Recapitulation 235 

Conclusion 237 

Renewing of the Holy Spirit 267 

Repentance 53 

Rules of Interpretation 16 

Sacrifice for Sin 35 

Sin-Offering 45 

Sinaitic Covenant 136 

Son of God 21 

Spirit of God 23 

Summary of Christian Facts 71 

T. 

Tertullian 222 

Testimony.. , 112 

Confirmation of the 117 

Three Dispensations 128 

Two Promises .c, 134 

Seeds .c<... 137 

U. 

Universe 13 

W 

Wall, Dr. W., Testimony of. 220 

Wesley, John, Testimony of. 226-234 

Word to Friendly Aliens !.. 339 

Word to Moral Regenerators 293 

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